The Awakening
by Sinkingboat
Summary: The final fight of book seven! Harry will do all he has to in order to destroy Voldemort, even die. Crossover with Serenity.Some of my best work! HarryHermione later HarryRiver
1. Final Battle

AN: Here we go… a fresh approach at the Harry/Firefly crossover!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Firefly or Serenity.

Chapter One

Final Battle

Nothing is at it seems…

Under a full sky of a stars and between a thick forest of trees a man lay on his back. His eyes a fierce green flickered. His body began to twitch uncontrollably. The man clenched his jaw as pain, until recently unimaginable, tore through his body. Muscles constricted and knotted. His organs quivered and pulsed. His blood boiled. It finally grew to be too much even for someone as strong willed as he. His mouth opened and he screamed. It wasn't a controlled scream of fear. One that asks permission of your subconscious before loosening itself to scare away the monster in the closet. This was a real scream. One that bodies reserve for the unthinkable. In history there had been three screams that could equal this one. When Eve found her son, murdered by his brother. As God watched his only son crucified. As William Wallace was tortured to death. And now, as Harry Potter was held under the cruciatus curse, was forced to watch the love of his life have hers stolen away.

"HERMIONEEEEE!!! YOU BASTARDS!!!" He fought the pain. Slowly he rolled over onto his stomach. Voldemort's red eyes narrowed and he put more hate and more power into the spell. The women at his side, his last faithful servant, Bellatrix watched in fear. In her right hand she held a dagger. Blood dripped down from its crimson stained tip. In her hand she held Harry's lover's murder weapon. Harry, from his position on his stomach, could look straight into the lifeless, brown eyes of his best friend. An unequaled rage filled his body and he crawled to his knees.

"STAY DOWN!!!" Voldemort shouted in a mixture of fear and hate. Harry had other intentions though. He had come this far. He had destroyed the Horcruxes with his two best friends. He had watched Ron, his first friend, die right in front of his eyes. Now was the final straw. He watched his most hated enemies, the one's responsible for his parents death and his godfather's death, kill his love.

"No." It was a whispered word, but to the two monsters in front of him it was a damnation to hell. His thighs and calves contracted as he shifted his weight and forced himself to stand.

"YOU WILL BEG BEFORE ME!!! BELLA CURSE HIM!!" Bellatrix with a fearful nod raised her wand with her master.

"CRUCIO!" Their spells combined. Blood began to flow from Harry's various wounds in rivers. He took a step. Voldemort's narrow eyes widened in fear. No one had ever with stood a cruciatus, and now this boy, his enemy, began to walk with two. Bella couldn't stand the waiting game. She charged with wand raised and knife poised for the kill. She swung down with the bloody dagger. Faster then she could see, Harry twisted her arm around until it was behind her back. With a sharp twist it snapped and the dagger fell into Harry's waiting hand.

"Aaaaarrrhh!!!" Her scream was enhanced as Harry directed her into the path of her master's curse. Voldemort quickly lifted the curse. Harry let her fall to the ground writhing. Before Voldemort could stop him Harry raised his boot over Bella's throat and slammed down, hard. She stopped writhing. Now he had no supporters.

"Nooo!" Voldemort raised his wand for a final curse. "Avada Kedavra!" The green curse sailed at Harry at untold speeds. Before it reached him he launched the dagger at the cause of all his pain. It landed true. Voldemort gasped as it pierced his black heart before he fell to the floor, dead.

Still his curse sped on. Harry too tired to move was grazed in the side of the head by the curse. He welcomed death…

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"Five minutes 'till were out of atmo." Mal clicked the receiver off and continued to set the course thingies for take off.

Inara stepped onto the bridge. "Maybe you should let someone who knows what their doing handle that?" Her voice was warm and rang out gently. Her eyebrow was quirked in a jesting manner as she stared at him through thick eyelashes.

"Hey I'll have you know I am more than qualified." At her dubious look he hastened to explain. "I took a flight simulator class once." She continued to stare. "It was at an arcade. Fine, I'll let it be 'till River gets back." Inara smiled and continued down the stairs towards the kitchen. Mal tweaked a knob. "She can't tell me what to do." He mumbled.

"You like it when she does…" River's soft voice had a far away quality to it yet she always seemed to be so penetrating. Mal never understood how she managed both.

"Coa ma! Don't you knock!?" He asked startled. River smiled as she took the co-pilot chair. After letting his brain catch up with his heart… "So we ready to take off…?" He gestured to the flight controls he had just been tampering with.

"If we wish to crash and burn alive." Mal shook his head in a clear, 'We don't want that expression.' River took that as the affirmative to fix the controls. She looked up after a moment. "We need Kaylee…" River blushed with an odd look on her face. Mal frowned.

"I don't like that look for one second."

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"Oooh Simon!" Kaylee panted as Simon let her down from her pin against the wall. Simon's brow was covered with a layer of sweat as he too panted from the exertion.

"Kaylee…" He moaned as he released her slowly to the floor.

Jayne Cobb whistled as he walked to the engine room. On his way he considered why Mal didn't just use the coms to get Kaylee goin' on the gas instead of sending him. He shrugged, Mal usually had a reason.

"Kaylee where the gorram are you girl…? " Jayne stopped at the sight of the couple still in an intimate embrace to the right of the engine.

"Jayne!!" Kaylee's shriek broke him from his trance.

"I'll be in my bunk." His mission had been derailed.

Simon sighed and pressed his forehead against Kaylee's. "Did I mention that I really don't like him." Kaylee giggled.

"Maybe once or twice."

"Kaylee!" They both jumped at the sound of Mal's voice echoing through the room. "This is your captain speaking. Stop giggling and get Serenity going. Simon stop assaulting my mechanic."

Click. The com shut off.

Kaylee and Simone shared one last kiss before getting dressed.

Seven and a half minutes later.

"Aren't we supposed to be outa atmo right now, sir?" Zoe asked as she entered the small cock pit. Mal looked back over his shoulder at Zoe. She still looked strong, but she was always strong.

"I said five minutes." Zoe raised an eyebrow.

"It's been five minutes two and a half ago, sir." Mal shrugged.

"Blame our resident doctor. He's been detaining my mechanic." Zoe nodded in understanding. She paused, but then her voice became more unguarded as she spoke. She sounded like his friend.

"What are we going to do now, Mal." Mal looked into her eyes. Her pain was still freshly displayed in them.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "What ever we can. The fight ain't over 'less we want it to be. We can go on our merry way; our we can try to see this to the end." Zoe nodded with a gleam in her eye. "This ain't a decision we'll make on our own. The rest of the crew ain't soldiers." He nodded to River who was trying to not impose on their conversation. She tried to distract her mind by reciting the periodic table, but that didn't really work. Zoe followed his glance, and nodded.

"Neither were we once." She said wistfully. Mal smiled softly.

"Once upon a time." Zoe smiled

"Once upon a time, sir."

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The room was cold and sterile. In the center of the room a man was strapped to a chair. He had a strange metal device around his head. Monitors beeped erratically startling the watching doctors. They shared a glance before looking back at the screens.

"His pulse is way up." One announced.

"Scary Dream."

Their patient bucked against the restraints holding him to the chair.

"HERMIONEEEEE!!! YOU BASTARDS!!!" He pulled hard against the leather restraints.

"Something's wrong Beth! He shouldn't be aware of his surroundings." The first doctor, a middle aged man with a dark beard yelled out as he continued to look from the monitors to their 'patient.'

"Thomas the restraints!" Beth cried out. With one last tug their experiment broke one arm restraint. Thomas rushed over and injected the man with their strongest sedative.

"Stay down!" He shouted in vain. The drugs kicked in, though and the man slowed but didn't stop.

"No." The man whispered. He continued to break his other restraint.

"Beth bring another sedative!" Thomas shouted panic stricken. Beth rushed over and uncaringly stuck the syringe deep into the muscle of the man's upper arm. Nothing. He kept pulling at his restraints. His eyes were open now and they had a hatred in them so powerful both doctors swallowed in fear. Beth quickly filled the syringe with a lethal dose and lunged down at his chest with it.

SNAP

The last restraint finally came apart. Before the doctors could even react, the man grabbed Beth's arm and broke it like a twig. He caught the sedative Beth had intended to use on him before it could hit the ground. Thomas lunged at the man with another needle but much to his horror he found himself injecting his fellow doctor with the drug. She fell to the floor unconscious. Though their experiment wasn't done. He raised his bare foot over her wind pipe and slammed down breaking her trachea.

"Noooo!" Thomas screamed. He cursed himself as he turned to grab his taser gun only to turn around to find a needle posed to strike. He fired it off at the man at the very moment the lethal injection of drugs was pumped into his system. Thomas fell to the floor dead. His taser headed straight towards the mans head and latched onto the metal device around his head.

"Aaaaaarch!" The man screamed as he was electrocuted through the device. Slowly his eyes cleared from the thick fog of unnecessary medication. Slowly he pulled the needle, which held the device, from his head. Blood streamed down slightly from where he pulled it out. Once he was relived of the implant he was able to lift off the device from around his head and stop the current of electricity that had been going through his body. He fell on all fours panting from the effort. Looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings he tried to catch his bearings. Was he dead? He looked at the bodies on the floor. Was this hell? He tried to stand but the pain was too much and he collapsed back onto his knees. Calming himself down slowly thoughts and images began to pound their way into his mind.

"No! Take me instead!"

"I'm Hermione Granger and you are?"

"Kill the spare."

"Harry Potter!!!"

With a muffled groan he clamped his hands around his head trying to slow the images. "They are not real." He whispered. "Not real. Not real. Not real." He chanted it trying to stem the flow of memories or whatever they were. All he knew for sure was he didn't want to be in this room any longer. He wished with all his might that he was somewhere else.

CRACK!!!

He disappeared.

"Stop." The image displayed paused. "Back track." Slowly the images began to go in reverse. The man. His fight with the doctors. Finally he was back in his seat. "Stop." The image of the doctors working in the lab paused. A black man with neatly trimmed hair walked through the image as though it were water. He looked back at the holographic image.

"At least this one takes care of the witnesses himself." He voiced his thoughts out loud as he stared at the man with a lighting bolt scar…

TO BE CONTINUED…

AN: Well… what do you think. Does it deserve a full story?


	2. Enlightenment

AN: A little short, but I like it. Enjoy and please review. Oh check out my C2 story lists and be sure to subscribe! K here it is…

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor Serenity…

Chapter Two

Enlightenment

There weren't many disreputable refuges on core planets especially on Ariel, but in one dark ally far from the prying eyes of micro cameras and Alliance control, a man sat hunched over on his knees. His breath came out in a wheezing cough as he tried in futility to calm himself. Images rushed though his mind. Fantasy and reality collided. One thought, or name rather, always came to the forefront of his mind. Hermione. She had to be real! He knew it with all his heart, yet his instincts and memories clashed. Is there anything harder than determining what reality actually is. He was able to slow his breath slightly when a noise from down the all caught his attention.

"Arrrr-ruh!" A dog. It seemed to have a slight limp. It was dark brown with smooth silky fur. Its eyes were wild. They were the eyes of a dog that would not take a command. It looked to be a pure bred pup, which meant the owners couldn't break it into their designated sanction of their home. When that happened they either chucked the dogs into the incinerator or sold it on, depending on how rare the bread was. This dog wasn't sold away, which meant that the previous owner had tried to kill it. She must have fought back and fought back hard. Crusted blood stuck to her otherwise shiny coat.

Her intelligent eyes gazed into his, judging him. He shivered at her penetrating gaze, but met it none the less. The dog let out a soft whine as if in greeting. It padded slowly towards him recognizing that he too was wounded. She could see that he was afraid and her speed in approaching him showed she was trying not to alarm him. She pressed her head softly into his neck seeking attention. As he pet the dog's soft head he notices small but deep gashes across her body. The dog gazed at him carefully as he brushed the soft fur back to scrutinize the cuts. Suddenly he felt an instinctive awareness which seemed to expect something of him. Trusting his gut he closed his eyes while softly stroking the dogs coat. Unbeknownst to him, his hands began to emit a soft red glow which bather the dog in a healing light. Soon the cuts healed themselves completely. The dog licked his face in thanks just before he passed out from exhaustion.

The dog looked upon her new masters sleeping face with worry. When a soft puff of air blew across her nose she knew he'd be alright as long as no one bothered him. She turned and faced the entrance of the alley in an obviously hostile stance. She'd make sure no one bothered him.

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Captain Malcolm Reynolds sighed as he looked at the meager contents of the kitchen. It had been only a few short weeks since they had patched up Serenity, and there wasn't much food available at the time. Slamming a cabinet door shut, Mal wondered what the hell they'd do now. No one in their right mind would look to them for a job so they'd have to work on their own and fence what ever they got quietly. They had made the most on jobs they had staked out privately…

"Captain." Mal jumped at Zoe's voice booming over the intercom. "I have somethin' your gonna want to see." He made a mental note to hold a meeting on how the captain was the only one aloud to play with the com before hurrying off to the bridge.

Panting slightly from the quick jog Mal asked, "What have ya got and it better be good 'cause I was fix'n up a dinner that would put the core planets to shame." Zoe looked Mal dead in the eye with an expression clearly stating the seriousness of the issue.

"Take a look." She said. With far less humor he did. As the letters zoomed across the monitor forming familiar but repressed words of people and memories that brought too much pain.

"But I- we all knew…" He was at a loss for words. "Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng!"

Zoe could only nod. "I know sir… we have to do something…" She trailed off unsure of what exactly they could do.

"We ain't got any connections left that can get us what we need." Zoe nodded knowing this. "Mr. Universe woulda had us on our way if…" Mal cleared his throat. They fell into a silence, depression weighing heavily in the air like a humid summer day. The words continued to flash before their shocked eyes.

**HARRY POTTER: WANTED ALIVE FOR TERRORIST ACTIVITY- REWARD 10,000 PLATINUM **

**-------------------------------------------------------------------**

Dinner was even quieter than it had been lately. The crew, minus Jayne, ate at a sedate pace, though the food offered little calling to be eaten. Kaylee was the first to break, unable to stand not knowing what had spooked the captain and Zoe so bad…

"So, Cap'n whose this Harry Potter? S'he another old war buddy?" She looked slightly nervous at the thought. Mal sighed.

"'Suppose you all want to know?" Receiving several curious nods and a few blank stares he took that as a yes. "Welp… I don't reckon we knew lil' Harry too well, but we served with his folks. They were a nice bunch."

"Good soldiers and friends." Zoe added. Mal nodded afirmitavely.

"Lilly and James Potter were a great team. They volunteered for active duty 'spite their background. They were both raised on core planets and had respectable family names and money to boot, but they wanted to be right there with the rest of us." Mal had a far away look in his eyes as he continued. "Were plenty of kids that lost their mom or dad, but there was a smaller group that lost both. Harry was in that group. He couldn't of been more than…" He looked to Zoe.

"Eleven at the most." Mal nodded.

"He went up to the officer that delivered the news and demanded that he be enlisted." Mal and Zoe smiled at the memory. "I believe it was Lieutenant Walters that said, 'Boy, my weapons the size of your arm. You couldn't even lift it…' Before the son of a bitch even finished his sentence, Harry, faster than I could believe, kicks him in the shin. Walters leaned over in pain and probably to smack him one, but before he got a chance Harry had disarmed him and had aimed the gun at his head. He says," Mal and Zoe weren't the only ones laughing now. "He says, 'I think you could find something for me…' Walters was a second away from attack'n him when Harry flips the safety off and adds politely, 'Sir." Mal stops to catch his breath and rub the tears from his eyes. Kaylee was giggling softly with Zoe.

"Gorram nutcase if you ask me." Jayne muttered. "They sign him up or what?" He asked in a grunt. Mal's smile slid off his face.

"Against my recommendation, yeah." Mal wore a somber expression. "We'd heard he was running paper work mostly. Things were goin' ok right then. We were gett'n a drop on the Alliance for once. We had intel from some 'classified source." Mal cursed as he slammed his cup down. Zoe picked up were he left off.

"We were at Serenity valley when we finally got the news. Harry Potter was our source. We never figured how he pulled it off… Anyway the Alliance released news of his capture and later execution. After we lost our source our heads decided to pull back the re-enforcement. We lost Serenity 'cause of that decision, and we only had it 'cause of the guts of a couple hundred men and one brave boy." Zoe drowned the rest of her whiskey in one gulp.

"They took him." River whined. Mal's head shot up. "They take all the good boys and girls." River cried silently as her eyes seemed to relive a sad memory. "He fought them, but they want him back. They always want us back."

"Then we'll have to find him first." Mal stated fiercely. "Zoe see if you can reach Badger, Monty, Fanty, Mingo and anyone else you can think of. Much as I loathe to admit it, they're 'bout the best we got far as info goes these days. If they want something on sight for the info offer up what ever we got worth fencing that won't stop us flying. Kaylee pull back on the burn. No point in gett'n somewhere fast when we don't know where it is we're goin'. Jayne… Inara maybe the council's heard something. A friend or… client, anything would be of help. River set Serenity on course to Ariel. It's one of the closest planets, and a core to boot, but we'll have to keep off anyone and everyone's radar while we're there. Simon stay with River…just incase." Everyone stared at Mal. "Uh… dismissed?" Sheepishly the crew rose and began to go about their business. Zoe stayed behind.

"Sir?"

Mal looked up from his empty glass. "Zoe?"

"I think they decided." Mal sighed.

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It was hours later when nine-teen year old Harry Potter came to. As his eyes adjusted to the rising sun's light he was able to remember were he was. A soft whine brought his attention to the pup at his side.

"You're still here?" The dog cocked her head to the side as though reprimanding him for stating the obvious. Harry groaned as he tried to stand. His body was too sore. Shock therapy will do that to ya. Not to mention the drugs he had pumping through his system still. He took in the appearance of the dog. She seemed to have healed perfectly compared to the night before. He hoped he had enough energy for himself. He closed his eyes. A soft wind blew his bags back as he concentrated on healing himself this time. After a moment his body began to glow a soft red before he felt a slightly euphoric feeling pass over him. When it was gone his body felt replenished and he was shocked to find that he wasn't at all tired. Smirking he decided he was in better shape then he thought. Slowly he closed his eyes again. He had years of memories to sort through and he wasn't 100 on which were real. This could take a while, was his last thought before he dove into his own subconscious. For what ever reason he felt he needed to practice 'Occlumency.'

To be continued….

AN: Next chapter I promise to name the dog… Its fairly obvious what to expect for the next chap but I have a few surprises up my sleeve.


	3. Deposits and Withdrawals

AN: It has been brought to my attention by Nonjon (you can find him in my fav authors) that not everyone who reads this has scene Firefly or Serenity. That is a crime. Buy it rent… buy it and rent it. Get it. Watch it. Love it. That is all.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Firefly 'verse

Chapter Three

Deposits and Withdrawals

It was late…or early. Depending on which planet's time you were on. It didn't really matter at the moment because either way Simon and Kaylee were worn out. Simon lay propped up on his bed with Kaylee spooning his mid-section. As he casually stroked her hair he stared intensely at the hand held screen in front of him. The warrant for Harry Potter flashed on the screen. Simon stared intently at this person. He knew him. He was sure. The only question he had was from where.

"Watcha look'n at?" Kaylee asked through a yawn.

"The warrant for Harry Potter. I feel like I know him from somewhere but…" Kaylee looked up from her resting place.

"Can't place him?" She asked. Simon sighed before nodding. Kaylee saw that he was about to go all introverted again and a quiet broody Simon wasn't one she favored.

"Ya know, Simon, if I knew half the things you said in bed, I never woulda bugged you 'bout cussin'." Kaylee yawned out. Simon smiled softly at the cute mechanic's tired face. He playfully pinched her nose. With out opening her eyes Kaylee smiled and went to grab something for herself. Simon gasped, and the monitor of a boy with green eyes was forgotten.

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"Ooooohhh!" Harry moaned as he stretched out his locked up joints. Sleeping against a wall will do that to ya. Not to mention sorting through over nine-teen years of memories. It took hours, but he finally got his memories sectioned off into to two groups. Group A were the memories he felt he could trust. There were far fewer of those. He only had about 12 odd years of memories in that section. And then there were the memories he couldn't trust, a little over nineteen years of memories. It was hard to contain them that way, but he feared he had no choice. He couldn't walk up to someone and 'ask how many galleons to ride a spaceship?' No, that would make him stand out horribly. The only problem he had with his theory of ,this side of brain good this side bad, was that a lot of what he learned at 'Hogwarts' seemed to actually work. He had memories as a child being able to 'apparate'. That's what made him so useful to the Independents, but he could even perform some kind of…magic? Just like he'd done in the fake world. Other than that he was right as rain.

He was ready to walk out of the alley to find out exactly where he was when River barked.

"What is it girl?" Harry asked petting the dogs head. The dog seemed to be nodding at him. Harry looked towards himself and realized he was in some kind of hospital clothes still. Paper thin pants and shirts tend to stand out not to mention being bare foot. Sighing he raised his right hand over the clothes and concentrated. If an outsider had seen this he surely would have thought himself crazy. As if it suddenly turned to ash the clothes disintegrated, but rather than reveal bare skin it broke away to reveal a blue button down shirt tucked into khakis. Harry panted when he felt the job was done. Now that took some energy. Looking up and down at his new clothes he realized he still needed shoes.

"Damn." He muttered. Just when he was about to go look for more stuff to change, River butted her head against his leg. She bowed her head in order to drop her load. Three small rocks clanked to the ground. "Such a smart girl!" Harry praised reaching for the rocks. There were three though… he looked at River and finally noticed she had no collar. That was also an easy way for them to get noticed. Harry smiled and concentrated on the three rocks like he had the clothes. Much quicker this time they began to change. The first two rocks lengthened before the crumbled away revealing a pair of leather shoes. The last rock flatted itself before to crumbling away to reveal a red collar with an official looking tags. He was highly surprised at how much easier it was to alter the rocks than the paper and made a mental note to check that out later.

Harry carefully placed the collar on River. She wagged her tail in thanks. As Harry put the shoes on he questioned his sanity again. Could this dog be a figment of his imagination or was she really that smart. Just as Harry started making his way out of the ally River barked once more to catch his attention. He looked over to see a flyer pinned beneath her paw.

"Whatcha got there?" He asked as he lifted the paper.

WANTED: HARRY POTTER, FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

ALIVE- 20,000 CREDIT REWARD DEAD-10,000 CREDIT REWARD

The picture was a few years old at least, but it was still him. This set him back. He looked across the alley catching his reflection off the wall, but then again. He closed his eyes.

"Please work." he whispered. Slowly he opened his eye lids to reveal brown and not green eyes. Smirking Harry closed his eyes again. No way was he gonna get recognized.

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River stared blankly ahead as she navigated Serenity. Harry Potter, the name was familiar. His image seemed to always hover in her subconscious, but not in the highly painful way Miranda did. It was pleasant… like a dream she had forgotten.

"I figure it's gotta be somethin' big to keep your mind stumped even for a minute. So what's toublin' ya, mei mei?" Mal's voice was concerned, but a note of humor rang through. River looked away from the vastness ahead of her for a moment.

"The boy." Her answer was simple but it hardly cleared things up for Mal. He followed her gaze until it fell upon the warrant for Harry Potter.

"What about him?" Mal asked curiously. River's eyes began to water, but she held back her tears.

"I remember. They took us." Mal quickly made his way behind River to rub her shoulders in a gesture of comfort.

"Harry was with you at the academy?" Mal asked nervously. River nodded. A shiver went down Mal's spine at the haunted look in River's eyes.

"Mal?" He was both annoyed and grateful for Inara's inquiring voice. Turning away from River his breath caught in his throat at the sight Inara presented. She was dressed for bed in a silken robe. It was mostly modest, but with each rise and dip in the fabric as it pressed against her skin was a mocking dare to guess what lay underneath.

"Mmm-hm…" Clearing his throat Mal answered. "Uh- yeah?" Inara gave a ghost of a smile at his typical boyish behavior when caught off guard.

"I've made contact with some close friends with fairly high political connections. For a wanted man, Harry Potter certainly keeps a clean record. They couldn't find a birth certificate, social security number… not even a library card. There was a bank account with Independent Universal, coincidentally the only surviving non-centralized banking system." Mal raised his eyebrows.

"Makes sense. River just told me that he was at the academy with her so that would explain why he don't exist, and his parents didn't trust the Alliance so it would make sense they had an account with Independent."

"I do have some good news though." Mal raised a questing eyebrow. "The warrant for River and Simon has been dropped. The Miranda broadcast has put some heavy pressure on people who like to be kept comfortable. I don't think they want anyone inquiring too heavily into what Simon and River's offenses were exactly." Mal smiled his first genuine smile in what felt like years.

"Simon will be happy to hear. Plus that leaves us in the clear…mostly." Mal thought of the cargo they'd lifted off the Alliance when that hwoon-dahn operative let them patch up Serenity.

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Zoe grunted as she settled the weights back onto the rack before staring off with a slightly dazed expression. Jayne watched as he almost effortlessly did pull up after pull up on the two rope loops attached to the catwalk above. He quickly finished his set before dropping to the ground with a grunt of his own. He stared at Zoe full of suspicion.

"What's the matter?" Jayne asked. Zoe snapped out of her trance to look at Jayne inquiringly. "Ya only did half yur usual reps." Jayne noted surprisingly observant. Zoe nodded.

"Just thinking." Jayne raised a curious eyebrow.

"'Bout what?" Zoe looked at him queerly.

"Since when did you care?" Zoe asked sarcastically. Jayne for the most part looked unfazed but there was some obvious hurt in his eyes.

"What say I do care?" He mumbled turning back to the stirrups, though he faced away as he continued his work out. Zoe sighed.

"Sorry. Feel'n a bit sick lately." Jayne grunted his acknowledgment as he continued his work out. After finishing the set he dropped back to the ground. He looked at Zoe carefully.

"You do look peaky. Maybe ya should see the doc?" He asked as he made his way up the stairs towards his bunk. Zoe sighed as she lay back down to do another set. Maybe she would if she didn't already know what was wrong…

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A decent looking bloke casually made his way down the street. He had darkish hair almost black with a slightly lighter skin tone. His brown eyes glinted with confidence as did his posture. He fit in perfectly with the rest of the crowd as they busily went about their day. His only companion was a pretty pup that trotted along side him in an almost possessive manner.

"Alright first things first, I'm gonna need some money." The muttered as he turned a corner in the direction of Universal Independence Bank. He was pleased to see it was in the exact same spot as when he'd last seen it. It was a large building and stuck out like a sore thumb. Unlike the surrounding structures, this one wasn't built to fit in or merely out of efficiency. This was a work of art. The men who built this had pride in what they did. It appeared to be made of stone which clashed against the surrounding giants of steel and glass. Intricate carvings bordered the roof, and huge pillars gave off an impression of importance and at the same time a sense of timelessness. Shaking his head he reminded himself that he had half the universe out to kill him or worse, and headed into the bank after making sure River knew to stay outside. He was more than pleased when there was no sign warning off thieves under threat of death. So far so good.

The bank was mostly empty so it was easy to find a teller.

"How may I help you, sir?" The woman's voice was bored, but polite. She doodled on a note pad with a set of bank branded pens, while occasionally looking up at him. He smiled politely.

"I would like to access some funds." The woman swiveled in her chair to face a monitor.

"Account number?" She asked. God it had been ages since he had heard it.

"411-231-0600." She quickly pressed the number in. She raised her eyebrow at the account before her. It was against company policy not to mention Alliance laws to have pseudonymous accounts, but there were a few acceptations which only applied to those with very high connections. It was dangerous to keep things off the books when the Alliance came knocking so if you were one of the few on the list to not be on any list than you were important to someone.

"Access number, Sir?" She asked with a quiver in her voice. She watched curiously as the attractive young man bit his lip as he rubbed a hand through his hair. If she knew what he was thinking she'd of been on the floor laughing.

'What the hell is the access number? My birthday…when the hell was my birthday!? July 31, 1980… no. Gorram Alliance wouldn't even let me remember my birthday.' His eyes widened as a thought hit him. Reaching into his pocket he withdrew the wanted poster River had found. He quickly scanned it. 'Considered armed and dangerous….blaa blaa blaa… ah here we go.'

"73199." One again she pressed the numbers into the monitor.

"Ok, how can I help you today, sir?" She asked politely. The man smiled sheepishly.

"I'd actually like to know what my balance is. It's been a couple of years since I've used a non-government bank." The woman nodded and looked at the screen.

"I can see that. You've been building interest for almost eight years on the untouched original deposit. Let's see… here we are your balance is 6,501,240.66 platinum sir."

"Great." The man's voice was tight with surprise. "I'd like to make withdrawal of five-hundred platinum and I'd like to covert 50,000 to creds and be placed in a separate account so I can use a card to access the funds."

"No problem. This will take a few minutes so if you'd like there are a few seats over there were you can make yourself comfortable." Harry looked in the direction she pointed to find a few leather chairs. They did look comfortable.

As he took his seat he reached for a magazine. He half expected the pictures to move, whether he was in his fake world or the future, but the beautiful woman, with the most joyous expression on her face, remained stoic with a proclamation typed below her picture.

"Relieve menstrual cramps…huh. Guess that _is_ somethin' to be happy 'bout." Looking around to make sure no one saw, Harry turned to page 105.

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Mal sighed, another potential crash landing turned for the best in the end.

Turning to River he asked her. "Remind me to remind Kaylee to remind me what parts we should pick up while we're planet side…primary buffer panel aside." River nodded before scurrying off towards god knows where. "Didn't mean now." Mal spoke to no body in particular.

"WASH!" River screamed back. Mal looked towards the direction she'd head off in an offensive manner.

"I DO!" He yelled back angrily. Careful he raised his arm to take a tentative sniff. "Guah!"

"Obviously not enough." Inara pointed out as she watched the captain wrinkle his nose.

"Some things you can't ever get clean. Ain't that so Inara? Bet you have all sorts of stains in _my_ shuttle." Inara smiled tightly.

"_My_ shuttle is the cleanest part of this go-se ship, _Mal_." Sighing she shook her head. "I just came to tell you some good news. I got a wave from a friend. He says that Harry's accounts been accessed in the last two hours. So unless he takes off in a hurry, we found the right planet." Mal nodded with a small smile. Inara taking this as her queue to leave turned to head back to her shuttle.

"Wait!" Inara turned to Mal with a questioning expression. "Err- I don't think they'll be time to schedule any… appointments. Once we find Harry we're ditchin' this rock."

Once again Inara smiled her tight lipped smile. "Hadn't planned on it captain."

"That's good." Mal said a bit too quickly. "Cause we might have to leave in a hurry." Inara gave a small smile before walking away.

"_Go-se_." Mal swore.

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Simon sighed as he turned back from the monitor to face Zoe who was sitting on the exam table stiffly. "Well, it's official."

Zoe nodded expecting this. "He always said we should wait 'case somethin' happened." She said wistfully. "I'm sure as hell glad I didn't take him that seriously."

River poked her head into the small infirmary. "Little Wash?"

Zoe looked up surprised before nodding happily. "I'm pregnant."

To be continued…

AN: Next chapter Harry and the crew meet, and they aim to misbehave!


	4. Unification Day

AN: I know its been a while, but its my senior year and this week was final exams. Before that I got hit by a car…again! Can you believe it! Anyway here we are at chapter four. Thanks to all reviewers, especially Morbious20, ZombieWolf, and Night Silhouette. There are many more reviewers out there, but I have a horrible memory so thanks to all. This chapter has not been edited. All grammar sticklers proceed with caution!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Firefly… if I did Firefly would be on season five or so and HBP would have been a good read (not that I'm a better writer but damn that book sucked!)

Chapter Four

Unification Day

Harry sighed as he walked along the side walk. As the day progressed the quiet beauty of the city disappeared as hordes of people crowded the streets in celebration of Unification Day. The day that Harry resented more than any other. As he walked under a banner proclaiming with large black font, "The Alliance rewards those who reward themselves," anger like he hadn't felt sense he was back at the clinic began to pump its way through his system. A soft whine from his knee level broke him of his trance. River was staring up at him with worried brown eyes. Sighing he did his best to calm himself.

Seeing a bar he decided a drink would help. It wasn't especially unusual drinking this early on Uni-day, in fact the pub was fairly packed. It took Harry a few minutes before he was able to get through the weapon scanners especially with River at his side, but with a few bribes he found a spot at the bar. Ignoring the rowdy and already slightly inebriated drunks Harry ordered a gargle-blaster. It was his favorite drink. He looked at the martini glass happily as it was delivered to him. Condensation covered the glass completely from the cold vodka and as the liquid swirled around a yellow glow tinted the glass due to the natural lemon cube carefully sunk to the middle of the drink. As the cube melted it released its citric flavor into the vodka while keeping it cold.

He remembered steeling a sip from his mom's glass once, thinking it was just ordinary lemonade. At five the burning liquid held little appeal to him but the wonderful head rush that accompanied it was welcomed with a giggle. Harry was brought back to the present when he realized that he had already finished his drink. Waving the bartender over Harry slipped the vodka tainted lemon cube into his mouth to chew on while waiting for his next drink.

"You a queer or somethin'?" Harry turned to the large muscle bound ass hole to his right. The guy, Harry guessed, was about 6'2'', but he couldn't tell for sure as the man was sitting down. He had close, cropped hair and a neatly trimmed goatee.

"Actually I'm not looking for a date…thanks." Harry turned back to grab his second drink.

"What's that suppose to mean?" The man asked angrily. Harry gave a wide eyed innocent look.

"Well I just thought you were asking if I'm available…" Harry said. The man stood suddenly jumped up like he had a fire lit up under his ass.

"I ain't no faggot! You best watch your mouth or I'll break it for ya!"

"You have something against homosexuals?" Harry asked. "Here I thought we were living in a civilized era!" The man froze contemplating his words.

"I don't care if two guys wanna rub peckers but don't be implyin' I'm one of them!" Finally a man sitting to the homophobe's right intervened. Harry was almost sure he knew him from somewhere.

"Don't mind my friend here. He's had a bit of a rough morning. We'll get your next drink…" The big surly man continued to stare, now with a slightly wounded puppy face, down at his friend. "Jayne have a seat."

Internally Harry was laughing. No wonder the guy was so sensitive. It also explained the muscles. Jayne…

"Jayne huh?" Harry asked. "Nice to meet ya, and thanks for the drink…?" Jayne's friend was about to answer the unasked question when a man to the side of them stood to raise a toast.

"To Unification Day and the fall of Browncoats everywhere!" He threw back his drink as the rest of the crowd joined in the cheer and toast. Harry was squeezing his glass so hard it shattered.

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Earlier that morning…

"Firefly transport requesting docking clearance." Mal spoke calmly to the ground control.

"Firefly transport you are cleared for docking. Happy Unification Day!" Mal frowned as Inara snickered over his shoulder.

"Right… you too." He mumbled. He hated to use alliance docking facility but this was closer to the bank that Harry went to then their original landing zone.

After Mal set Serenity down carefully he was quick in gathering the crew in the mess hall. He noticed that Zoe seemed unnaturally happy. Her entire being seemed to glow and it was amplified by a bubbly River. He stared between them for a moment before looking to Simon. The reserved doctor looked as though he would be sick. Which meant he probably knew something he didn't want to… that would mean a secret.

"Was s'up Cap'n." Kaylee asked as she stepped into the room. Poor girl looked like she'd been put through the wringer. Breaking atmo with a Firefly meant paying attention in the engine room, and when you were exhausted from other late night activates all you wanted to be doing was sleeping. Mal felt very little sympathy for her. He looked back briefly at Simon, who besides his slightly nauseous expression, looked as though he was on top of the world. He had the girl of his dreams, Mal spared a brief glance at Inara, and his sister was no longer a fugee. Nope not feeling a great deal of sympathy.

"Ok here's the deal. Thanks to some… friends of Inara's we know that Harry made a withdrawal from Independence. We also know that there aren't any charters leaving 'till at least tomorrow seeing as it's…_Unification day_. SO the plan is we get to the bank and see what the vids picked up of him. The only pics we have of him are before he even hit puberty plus he probably has some sort of disguise. If we can find out what he looks like that will be a pretty good start. Inara's… contacts say they can tell us where and when his bank card has been used. So after we got an idea of what he looks like we can just sit back and wait."

"If Inara's contacts have this information is it safe to say the Alliance does as well?" Simon asked. There, surprisingly, was no hint of nervousness in his voice just speculation. Sighing Mal placed his hands on the table.

"Safe to say." He replied. Jayne walked into the room yawning his question out.

"What's for breakfast?"

Simon stared horrified at the sight before him. Mal seeing his expression decided not to turn around. River was dry heaving.

"Why aren't you wearing clothes?" Simon asked in return. Jayne frowned.

"Bad dream…" He mumbled scurrying out of the room back to his bunk. Kaylee was giggling furiously into her boyfriends chest.

"Not that I'd thought about it," Kaylee began, "But I always just figured guys were proportioned evenly alls around."

River looked fit to vomit. "Some… strange species… couldn't be human. Sub-classification… like…like…it was…" Simon carefully stroked his sisters hair.

"Shhh, mei mei, its gone away now. You're safe." Yes Mal was glad he didn't turn around.

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Mal, and Jayne walked at a slightly hurried pace in the direction of Independent National Bank. After going over all they knew about the bank, Mal decided it was only a two man job. Since he was a little weary of Zoe's newly found cheery disposition he opted to take Jayne instead. As they reached the bank Mal yanked the door open allowing Jayne to enter first. He tried to look inconspicuous as possible as he past a security officer. After the hospital incident he wasn't sure whether or not to smile so he simply nodded. Finally he reached a waiting chair in the far corner of the bank just outside the security room. From what they new there were two guards on at all times. It was a rotating schedule and the guard in the security office was getting off in a few minutes leaving the room empty for five minutes as he punched out and his replacement punched in.

Meanwhile Jayne was at an island towards the tellers window filling out a personal deposit slip. Mal guessed he was drawing small woman with big boobs and poorly at that. A soft click alerted Mal to the door behind him being unlocked. Sure enough a middle aged security guard exited the room. Mal stood and made his way over to the guy before he closed the door.

"Say…" Mal began. "You guys don't need any help 'round here do ya? My uncle told me they had an opening here as a part-time security officer." The guard eyed Mal for a moment. Apparently seeing Mal as a good enough guy he smiled.

"Yeah we could use an extra hand around here. Come with me a sec." The guard led Mal into the security room. There were two chairs facing one large monitor with several splits in it showing every corner of the bank. "Names Burney," He said as he reached over the desk to pull out a thin, electronic pad. "Been working here 25 years now! Seems like yesterday I walked in lookin' for work just like you. Here you go." He handed over to pad. "I'll just let you fill this out in the lobby and you can submit it." He eyed Mal again. "You look like a nice enough guy. I'll make sure it gets to the top of aps." Mal smiled his appreciation.

"Thanks Burney. Name's Nick." He said offering his hand. They shook a second before letting go.

"I'd let you stay in here to fill it out, but I'm off now, but Mick will be here soon so just wait in the lobby and give it to him." Burney led Mal back towards the exit. As they passed the door Mal casually placed a small metal strip over the door frame where it instantly, and silently fused. Not that it mattered because right on cue…

"What ya mean ya can't cash this check! This is a good check! I just got it for a weeks worth of work in the pits! You know what its like down their!" Jayne's voice echoed angrily through the bank. Burney quickly shut the door not noticing it couldn't lock and with one apologetic glance toward Mal took off in Jayne's direction.

Mal quickly pulled the door back open slipping in quietly and closing the door. It only took him a moment to find the security footage from the time Harry made his withdrawal. Downloading the vid to a portable player, Mal pocketed the contraband and made his way back into the lobby in time to see Jayne being dragged away by two guards. Mal made sure he went willingly earlier when they went over the plan. Casually placing the application file on the chair he made his way out of the bank.

Jayne would be released after they searched him, and they both would meet back on Serenity. Mal smiled wondering if Jayne new what kind of search they'd perform….

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Jayne sighed as they pushed him against a wall where he was chained. As they patted him down Jayne began to apologize knowing if he was calm they'd let him go with out a report to the Alliance after a brief pat down.

"Really its just been a tough week for me. The kids grown' up so fast, and my ex hardly ever lets me see 'em…" He trailed off as a loud the loud snap of latex fitting itself over the guards hand broke his rant. "What you doin'?" Jayne asked nervously.

"We have to do a full body cavity search." Jayne's eyes widened. "Believe me when I say this will hurt me a lot more than you." Jayne whimpered.

"Mommy…"

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Mal sniggered as he retold his part of the story.

"Cap'n, that's awful!" Kaylee giggled. "How could you!"

"Good work, Sir." Zoe saluted. Simon and River nodded in agreement while Inara just shook her head amused.

"Those poor guards." She sympathized.

When Jayne came back he was walking awkwardly, and as he sat down at the dinning table for a late breakfast he looked very uncomfortable. River looked up from her barely touched food.

"Ewe!" She squeaked meeting Jayne's eyes. Jayne frowned looking down at his plate.

"Shut up." He mumbled. Mal watching the byplay was intrigued.

"What is it River?" He asked with a smirk. She gave Mal a childish face of disgust.

"It liked it!" She shot out as though spitting out a unsavory food. Mal's eyes widened.

"Did not!" Jayne shot back. River looked at Simon with a conspiring smirk.

"It did!" She whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

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After the slightly disturbing breakfast Mal was able to check out the vids from the bank at the time Harry made his withdrawal. There were only four people at tellers at that time and one was a woman. One seemed to young and one seemed to old, that left a man that appeared about Harry's age, but he didn't look a thing like him. Kaylee commented that by the look of him, he could have been Zoe and Mal's kid if they ever had one. Mal frowned when Zoe twitched a little when Kaylee said 'baby.'

"I don't know." Mal said. "Maybe it's a dead lead. I don't know of anything that can change someone's appearance that quick. Maybe someone just got their hands on Harry's bank info."

Zoe frowned. "A day after Harry's escape sir? Seems a bit unlikely." Mal frowned.

"Well there isn't much left we can do. Not like we can put out our own bulletins. I think I'll grab Jayne and take him for a drink. I think I owe him one."

"Sir…" Zoe cautioned. It was Uni-Day after all.

"Don't worry I'll be on my best behavior."

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When Mal and Jayne arrived at the place, Mal was surprised to see his look a like from the bank at the bar. Discreetly he steered Jayne over to the two empty seats next to the man.

"We'll have two shots of your finest cheap whiskey!" Mal exclaimed. The bartender gave them a withering glance before taking the platinum. He served the guy to their left first. He was drinking some weird martini Mal had never seen before.

"You a queer or somethin'?" Jayne asked rudely. Mal sighed taking his shot and drowning it quickly.

Present Time-------------------------------------------------

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Mal ,and unknown to him Harry, stared at the drunk toaster with eyes full of hatred. The man seemed to sense the glares.

"What?" He asked turning to them. "You ain't browncoats are ya? Ya know those browncoats were cowards! All of them were plain cowards!" He roared not noticing Mal and Harry's growing ire. The crowd roared their approval. He turned again to the only two not agreeing with him. "The Alliance wanted to make this a civilized universe for all of us! Yet you don't drink to the Unification!?" The man asked angrily. Harry, surprised Mal by answering for him.

"The Alliance's idea of so called 'civilization' consists of a universe where no one cares for anyone but themselves! Nothing matters except social standing! It's so pathetic! 'The Alliance rewards those who rewards themselves.'" Harry quoted. "That is capitalist bull shit and isn't even their true system! It should be the Alliance rewards those who roll over and kills everyone else!" Silence. Complete silence.

"Yeah!" Mal chimed in. With that agreeing proclamation the entire bar erupted as every drunk scrambled to beat the shit out of the browncoats. Harry once again surprised Mal by slamming his fist into the nose of the original Uni toaster. The guys nose snapped and blood began to gush.

Now Mal loved starting fights with people he hated or disliked; especially when they owed him money, but even more especially still when people came out for Unification day. However, he had never started a fight on a core planet on Uni-day. That was more trouble than he cared for, and he was definitely in trouble as the twenty or so drunks began to converge on their location with a fight in their eyes. Hell even if they weren't killed, they'd be the one's arrested. After all these patrons were defending the alliance.

"Go-se!" Mal mumbled.

To be continued…

AN: What do ya think? I have more for this chapter but I thought it could be saved for the nect one… Sides I really wanted one of my chapters to be called Bar fight. Oh and if it confused you when Mal used the metal strip to keep the door open I don't blame you. See I have no idea what the hell that thing is called. The thing when you close the door the watchama call it slides in then you lock the door and its stuck inside. I even went to Home Depot. Com. What the hell is that thing!? Anyway he covered the hole with the metal thing so it didn't close all the way…


	5. Bar Fight

AN: FINALLY!!! The Bar Fight!!! I always loved the way Mal picked the fight on Unification Day… Now he knows how Zoe feels as Harry starts the fight! Thanks for all the reviews. They are very much appreciated. Well I just, and I mean JUST, saw The Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer and I was pleasantly surprised. People have been praising Spider-man 3 for daring to break away from the comic book/ movie mold. I say SCREW that. I watch Spider-man because of the comics! And F4 ROSS was a true comic book movie!!! Although its not as good as the first two Spiderman or the first two x-men, it follows the flow of a good comic movie and that made it enjoyable. That's my pop culture review of the day…

Disclaimer: I do own the right to Harry Potter and Firefly…not

Chapter Five

Bar Fight

Last Time on The Awakening

_Mal ,and unknown to him Harry, stared at the drunk toaster with eyes full of hatred. The man seemed to sense the glares._

"_What?" He asked turning to them. "You ain't browncoats are ya? Ya know those browncoats were cowards! All of them were plain cowards!" He roared not noticing Mal and Harry's growing ire. The crowd roared their approval. He turned again to the only two not agreeing with him. "The Alliance wanted to make this a civilized universe for all of us! Yet you don't drink to the Unification!?" The man asked angrily. Harry, surprised Mal by answering for him._

"_The Alliance's idea of so called 'civilization' consists of a universe where no one cares for anyone but themselves! Nothing matters except social standing! It's so pathetic! 'The Alliance rewards those who rewards themselves.'" Harry quoted. "That is capitalist bull shit and isn't even their true system! It should be the Alliance rewards those who roll over and kills everyone else!" Silence. Complete silence._

"_Yeah!" Mal chimed in. With that agreeing proclamation the entire bar erupted as every drunk scrambled to beat the shit out of the browncoats. Harry once again surprised Mal by slamming his fist into the nose of the original Uni toaster. The guys nose snapped and blood began to gush._

_Now Mal loved starting fights with people he hated or disliked; especially when they owed him money, but even more especially still when people came out for Unification day. However, he had never started a fight on a core planet on Uni-day. That was more trouble than he cared for, and he was definitely in trouble as the twenty or so drunks began to converge on their location with a fight in their eyes. Hell even if they weren't killed, they'd be the one's arrested. After all these patrons were defending the alliance._

"_Go-se!" Mal mumbled._

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As the angry mob closed in on them Mal and Harry took positions covering each others back. Mal spared a glance back at the bar to see Jayne happily drinking his beer and apparently content to allow them to get the go-se kicked out of them. Harry saw were he glanced and hazard a question keeping an open eye for anyone who broke the surrounding circumference of their proximity which seemed to be drawn with the first man's blood as he moaned from his spot on the floor.

"Isn't he your man?" Harry asked. Mal, though Harry couldn't see it rolled his eyes.

"I keep wonderin' that." Mal returned before swearing as the crowd found their courage again, and began to advance.

"Must be…sixteen and a half of 'em." Harry whispered.

"Half?" Mal asked confused. Harry nodded in the direction of the far left of the crowd where a midget stood on a stool with a broken bottle. "Ah… still were out numbered. Why are we always out numbered?" Mal asked quickly. Harry shrugged.

"I was never much of a people person…" He ventured. Mal again rolled his eyes, but as his retort perched itself on the tip of his tongue he caught a glimpse of light reflected of bottle as it sailed straight towards Harry's head. With speed uncommon to most, Harry reached out and grabbed the projectile just as he had with a small gold ball… Before anyone could express their shock with his reflexes, Harry had already thrown the heavy glass bottle back from where it came from. The owner of said bottle didn't have Harry's reflexes and the glass smashed into his face breaking his upper jaw before small shards of glass imbedded themselves inside his face. He was knocked out and bleeding heavily before he even hit the floor. Mal stared stunned.

"T-that was… yeah." He stuttered out. Harry taking advantage of the again stunned crowd by charging forward. As he neared the group he rolled surprising three men who collapsed as his heavy weight hit their knees hard. Before they could hit the ground Harry had already spun with his weight kicking another in the leg, shattering the man's knee cap, from his position on the floor. A man behind Harry lifted a stool and swung down hard over Harry's back.

Mal, seeing this, ran forward using his shoulder to shove the man out of position to hit Harry. The man stumbled but righted himself. He swung the stool side ways hitting Mal in the gut. Mal bent over gasping, as the air rushed out of him. Seeing a bottle laying on the floor, Mal picked it up, swinging upward hard. The cool glass connected with man's chin sending a tremor to his brain and effectively rendering him unconscious. The bottle remained unbroken. Mal sighed in relief as he uncorked the bottle to take a shot of the pain killer.

Harry grunted as he was kicked in the back knocking him into two more men who eagerly held onto his arm so the man beside him could punch him across the jaw. Blood was forced from Harry's mouth due to the strength of the blow. He looked up to see the dangerous gleam in the eyes of the midget who had delivered the shot. Not waiting for the angry dwarf to deliver another blow, Harry flipped backwards allowing the men to hold his arm. As he came down from the flip his arms, which had been prisoners, now were twisting their captors back at an unnatural angle. Landing Harry twisted on the arms with just enough pressure.

SNAP

The two arms broke causing their owners to scream in pain. Harry held onto them still as two effective human shields. The 'little person' pulled a sharp, and for his stature, large blade from his boot. With a grunt the little man jumped at Harry who merely twisted one of his shields in front of him. The man screamed as he was impaled by his own friends knife. Harry kicked the back of his knee out causing him to fall forward onto the midget. His other shield took a chair to the head before Harry released his arm.

Mal swung his fist hard knocking the man in front of him onto the floor. Where lay stunned with a bloody lip. That guy had obvious imbibed enough alcohol to feed an Irishman. Mal sighed as he took in the carnage of the bar. Men and one or two woman lay on the floor moaning in pain. It seemed a good deal of the crowd took off after seeing their leaders fall. 'Probably to the Feds,' Mal thought grumpily. Briefly he wondered what that guy was thinking starting a fight on a Alliance Planet on Uni-Day. Mal ran that thought through his mind once more and laughed through a smirk. It was kinda fun, and they seemed to have actually one this time…

"Don't move or a put a bullet in your chests, dong la mah!?" Mal closed his eyes before raising his hands. 'Go-se!' He thought turning slowly to see the first man that got decked pointing a shiny .45 alternately between himself and his browncoat, partner in crime.

"You're the boss." Mal said looking in Jayne's direction for help. He nodded and slowly got up.

"That includes you!" Jayne shrugged sitting back down for another drink.

Suddenly with a growl the man was under assault from a wild looking pup. Harry smirked. The man grunted as sharp fangs pierced his clave muscles. He was able to shake River off with a good kick. Harry took advantage of the break in the man's concentration and stepped hard onto the blade the midget dropped which was conveniently propped up slightly on a smashed bottle. The blade flipped its way up to Harry's raised hand. The man must have seen a glint of light because he turned the gun towards Harry while starting to squeeze the trigger. The cool handle of the blade was a comforting weight in Harry's hand only for a moment before he threw it as hard as he could…

BANG

"Aaargh!!!" The gun dropped as the man clutched his hand in shock. A long steel blade stuck through, blood pouring through the wound and around the knife.

"I think it's time we aren't…here…anymore." Mal said staring at the wailing man as he floundered about before losing his balance and falling down the steel stairs knocking himself out.

"Huh." Jayne said. "That's not somethin' you see every day." He grunted. Harry looked towards Mal. He knew he could disappear, but what about them.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Harry asked concerned. Mal stared at him.

"I've got a ship. Your welcome onboard if you need a hitch." He said cautiously. Harry frowned in thought. Finally he put out a hand.

"Name's Harry." Mal's eyebrows twitched a second in surprise before he shook the offered hand.

"Mal. Jayne, we're out of here! Call Serenity and tell them to fire her up!" Jayne nodded as he pulled their coms and guns out of their locker.

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As they exited the bar it took quiet a bit of speed and unknown to Mal and Jayne, a small 'anit-mugle charm' on the arriving Feds. It exhausted Harry somewhat, but he was able to keep up with them the rest of the way back to their docking pad. River barked happily at the site of the ship. Harry stared in awe…

"That's your ship!?" He asked aghast. Mal's eyebrows rose.

"Hey!" He said indignantly. "I hear tell the Alliance has nicer digs if you want to check them out!" He said sarcastically in defense of his baby. Harry brought his hands up in surrender. Mal finally seemed to notice that Harry and River weren't breaking up. "Is that your pup?" He asked surprised.

"Not really. She just found me the other day and decided to stick around."

"Well… ok… Here's the thing… we had a problem with some Beagles a while back and…" He trailed off as Harry raised a hand in objection.

"Don't worry, River's a smart girl. She's fine aboard ship." I think, Harry added to himself. Jayne snickered, and Mal frowned.

"You named her River?" He asked. Harry shrugged. "Right. I think its time to get on the ship." Mal said in a nervous voice. Confused Harry followed though the large cargo doors into the belly of Serenity. After closing the doors Mal picked up the com.

"River," Mal glanced at the dog happily waving her tail. "Not you!" Mal said.

"OK!" River's cheerful voice sounded through the com.

"No!" Mal corrected. "I meant you! Get us off this rock and quick."

"What about, Harry?" She asked. Mal spared a brief glance at his new acquaintance.

"It'll have to wait. We ran into a little Alliance trouble." Mal explained. Harry tuned the conversation out as he stood stunned. River, and Harry. River was looking with Mal for a Harry. They weren't bounty hunters that was obvious enough…. Harry paled as the name Mal surfaced through his memories. Sergeant Reynolds is the only thing he called him, and River… what were the odds of naming a dog that the same day you meet someone with the name. Plus he just _knew_ there was a connection. As he came out of his stupor it was to hear a new feminine voice scolding Mal.

"I told you, sir! That was our best shot at finding Harry!" Mal sighed closing his eyes tiredly.

"Zoe, he ain't gonna get nicked! He's gotten this far so I'm sure He'll be okay for a while." He comforted the distraught first mate. When did she get so…emotional.

Harry blinked… Zoe… she was Mal's right hand man. She was firm but sweet, he vaguely remembered having dinner with them and his parents. He pinched himself to push away the depressing memories.

Before he knew it he was being led up to the infirmary by Mal.

"She's a good ship. And we've got a good crew." Mal was saying. "Were a pretty close knit group. Ah!" He announced. "Here we are. Allow me to introduce the infamous and honorable Dr. Simon Tam!" He said with flourish as the entered the small infirmary.

Said Doctor turned from the vid screen he was reading to look up at the new guest. His eyes took in their appearance with practiced ease.

"Just the sore jaws? I have some a mild pain killer in the cabinet." He said gesturing over his shoulder. Before turning back to the screen.

"See!" Mal exclaimed. "You won't find a more caring Doctor anywhere in the verse!" Simon looked up from what ever it was he was obsessing over with some shame.

"Excuse me… Its nice to meet you…?" He held out a cleanly manicured hand in a friendly gesture. Harry gave it one firm shake.

"Harry. Nice to meet you Doctor." He replied with a smile. Harry noticed Simon too seemed to twitch at his name.

"Just Simon's fine. I haven't been a real doctor in a few years now." Harry raised a curious eye brow.

"You haven't heard of him?" Mal asked shocked. "There was a sizeable amount of coin on his and his sister's head a while back. It was all over the wave." Mal said surprised.

Harry shrugged. "I've been… preoccupied lately." Mal cleared his throat.

"Right. Well I think I'll take you up on that pain killer dock. Then why don't we all head up for lunch? River should have a coarse set by then." Both men nodded in agreement.

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Zoe paced the length of the cock pit keeping an eye on River as they sped away from the planet at a quarter burn.

"I can't believe Mal! He started a fight like usual! And now poor Harry…" She trailed off as a lone tear fell down her face. This seemed to enrage her even more. "Damn hormones…" She mumbled rubbing her tummy with a smile. River looked up from her position with a happy light in her eyes. She seemed to have a secret to tell but was trying desperately to hold it in.

"I'm goin' to go check up on them. Come down when you make it to the clear." River nodded happily with a little jump in her seat. Zoe eyed her warily before heading off in search of Mal. It was easy enough to find him as he was in the dinning room but she stopped short at the man beside him. He looked as if he could be Mal's brother or son, 'cept for his darker hair and skin.

"Sir?" She asked respectively due to the company. Mal seemed to be greatful for her ability in keeping from lashing out at him.

"This is, Harry, and he seemed fit to pick a fit today against anyone Alliance friendly." Mal smirked. "Got me and Jayne into a fight… well Jayne mostly watched." He was officially off the hook. Zoe turned to Harry.

"You serve?" She asked after recovering from the name and the likeness between him and Mal.

"Yeah- uh- just some paper work, and maybe a little reconnaissance." Zoe's eyes glazed over.

"How old were you?" Harry looked as though he was trying to remember when he was just making it up.

"Well, I didn't get in till then end, actually. Made me wait 'till I turned seventeen." Zoe nodded sighing. She stuck her hand out stiffly.

"Nice to meet you." Harry whimpered slightly as her iron grip took a hold of his hand in what he hoped was a friendly hand shake. "You stick'n around or just dodging the Alliance?" She addressed the question more towards Mal who redirected it with a nod of his head towards Harry.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Inara and Kaylee were comfortably lounging in Inara's shuttle when Jayne thudded his way into the room. He gaped at the sight of Inara softly messaging Kaylee's shoulders. They were both fully clothed but Kaylee let out a soft moan that sent him a standing stiff.

"Mal said lunch in five." He barked out. "I'll be in my bunk!" He said over his shoulder and out the door. Inara sighed throwing a pillow at his retreating back.

"Does no one knock on this ship!?" Kaylee grunted in agreement still in her haze of pleasure. "I guess we should head up, Kaylee." Sighing Kaylee nodded, rolling to her knees to stand up.

"I was just relaxin' too." She sighed. It was a short walk to the mess hall, but they were able to fill it with plenty of girl talk and giggles. When they arrived they both stood in shock at the sight of Zoe and Mal talking to a complete stranger. Zoe, and Mal both had a look of parental pride as they listened to Harry speak. Not able to hear them Kaylee immediately jumped to conclusions when she saw the similarity between Mal and Harry.

"Zoe! Mal! How come you never said you had a son!" She gushed rushing over. Inara froze staring at Harry as well. He did have a striking resemblance between the two but Mal and Zoe surely… She trailed off unsure and feeling a nervous dread.

"Son!?" Mal and Zoe barked simultaneously.

"He's your son?" Simon asked entering the room. "I noticed he looked similar but-"

"No!" Mal said. "We ain't never…" He made a crude gesture between Zoe and himself. Zoe slapped his hands away.

"Like I would!" She snapped back. Inara let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, but Mal seemed to catch it.

"I can attest that I knew both of my parents before they died in the war." Harry spoke up. He closed the short distance between himself and Kaylee. "Nice to meet you…?" He said sticking out his hand, Kaylee blushed prettily as she softly held his hand.

"Kaylee…" She said. Harry smiled.

"That's a beautiful name." The blush deepened.

"Oh it ain't really! Just another name…" Kaylee responded still not loosening her hold on his hand.

"Hey." Simon objected weakly to the flirtatious banter. Harry dropped Kaylee's hand.

"Relax Simon!" Kaylee returned, walking over to him with a pout before she pulled him down for a kiss. Harry smiled before introducing himself to Inara.

"A companion?" Harry asked with some distaste. Inara flushed red with anger. "I'm s-sorry." Harry quickly apologized. "I mean you do a lot of good I just can't bring myself to agree with some of your… methods." Inara seemed to take this in stride but Mal wasn't about to.

"Hey! She's got perfectly respectable job!" Mal defended.

"Of course." Harry contritely, but now he seemed to of upset Inara again.

"RESPECTABLE!? Since when!?" She yelled back at Mal Stepping in front of Harry. "This is just like you! Defending me one minute and cursing me the next!"

"Hold on a second!" Mal yelled. "Maybe I'm just commin' 'round to your kinda think'n!" Just then their argument was interrupted…

"HARRY!!!" River's scream brought complete silence upon the dinning room. Harry looked up to see a bright but pair of brown eyes staring at him with wonder and hope. Harry searched his memory. He knew her… he thought… Before he could collect himself the girl was running full speed across the room right at him.

He only got out a soft, "Oh." Of protest before she launched herself at him. He was knocked to the floor as the petite yet strong brunette held him down as she sat astride him.

"It's me!" She said hugging him tightly. The crew could only watch in shock.

"Help!?" Harry asked from somewhere under River's mane of thick hair. This snapped Simon out of his shock as he quickly made his way over to help detach River from Harry. It took both Simon and Mal to free him completely. She looked down at him from between Simon's arms as he held her still.

"You don't remember me?" She asked. Harry slowly shook his head. Tear filled her eyes before she collapsed onto Simon crying. Simon looked down at his sister shocked.

"Why would he remember you." He felt he should know this for some reason.

"He's Harry." She said in a sob. "Why wouldn't he!?" She asked in return.

"Wait…" Mal said. "He," he said pointing at Harry, "Is _Harry_, _Harry_?" Zoe's eyes widened in understanding yet disbelief.

With watery eyes River nodded a solemn yes. Harry scratched his head.

'What now?" He wondered.

To be continued!

AN: I didn't go over this so I'm sure I made a few errors. Sorry. Hope you enjoyed, and I promise to get another one out as soon as possible.


	6. Who are you

AN: Alright I just saw OoTP and I must say it stayed closer to the book than the fourth flick, and most of the scenes the changed were due to the fourth flick. Once again Dobby was cut out, but that's telling and I'll stop right there. The main thing I felt that I think you'll agree with is that the movie loses the emotion that the books and the movies had (not counting the 4th). In my opinion this movie is good background noise for when you're reading a Harry Potter book or some fanfiction.

Many thanks to Robyn for editing this chapter for me. I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter… Are we really supposed to write that still!?

Who Are You

Chapter Six

There was a tense silence in the mess hall as everyone tried to get their bearings straight. The silence was only interrupted by the occasion, soft whimpers of River as she clung to her older brother. Occasionally she would mumble something about bumblebees and a hog's warts. Simon was the only one close enough to hear and he decided to keep it as a doctor patient confidentiality

"River…" Simon began placatingly. "His name is Harry… but he can't be that _Harry_. We've all seen the posters, and this man looks nothing like him." River shook her head causing her long dark brown hair to whip into her older brothers face.

"I don't look like me either!" She vehemently exclaimed. Harry sat frozen to the floor trying to figure out what that meant. Mal cleared his throat trying to get a hold of himself.

"Uh- River? Do you know this because?" Mal tapped the side of his head. River shook his head negatively.

"I can't feel him." She stated with a pout. No one was sure how to take this in. Harry at least knew she was a reader, and that meant his shields were keeping her out.

"Um…?" Harry started as he picked himself off the floor. River met his gaze, brown eyes stared intensely into his own. He swallowed and decided to trust his gut. "Hermione?" River's eyes widened before she let go of her brother to once again launch herself at Harry. This time prepared, Harry, only grunted as he caught her. She held onto him tightly while Harry tried to calm her down.

"O-K." Mal said slowly, announcing the crew's confusion.

"You know River?" Simon asked starting to feel doubt creep into him. Could this be the Harry they were looking for?

With some confusion of his own, Harry looked up to meet Simon's eyes.

"Yes… But it's confusing. I don't know if I can explain it with out giving away too much… if the Alliance knew…" He trailed off unsure of whether or not he should show his hand.

"No one on this boat is a fan of the Alliance. If you got troubles with them then your secrets safe with us." Mal promised. Harry met his gaze, remembering the honorable, and courageous soldier his parents had introduced him to.

Harry concentrated on his appearance and slowly it began to morph back into his original form. Shock ran through the group, and River was left as the only one with her mouth not gaping open. Harry gently disengaged from River's embrace. She pouted, but he ignored it for now. Standing stiffly he saluted Mal, and Zoe.

"Sergeant Reynolds. Harry Potter, sir!" He said just as he had all those years ago. Of course at the time he was a child and it was just a joke that his parents put him up to. In that light it could have been construed as a joke, but he was met with very serious expressions.

"Wuh duh ma huh ta duh fung-kwong duh wai-shung doh!" Mal exclaimed, and then silence. No one quiet knew how to handle what they just saw. For Mal and Zoe they were also dealing with the emotional whiplash of seeing someone they had thought dead for years, reappear right before their eyes.

Mal felt an overwhelming compulsion to grab his honorary son and squeeze the life out of him, but he held himself back. Zoe had no such compunctions and leaped at Harry mirroring River's earlier action. Harry gasped as the air was knocked out of his lungs. Zoe smiled as she pressed the surprised kid into a vice like hug. Harry tapped her shoulder trying to get her attention.

"Need air!" Harry gasped. The crew watched amused and stunned as the usually composed second in command lost control of her emotions almost happily. Kaylee smiled at the scene.

"Awe! Ain't that the cutest thing you've seen!?" She gushed with her usual child like enthusiasm. Zoe sheepishly let Harry go. Her hormones were getting the better of her, she decided. Simon decided to ask the logical question.

"How is this possible?" Harry grunted.

"I don't have the bloodiest clue!"

"Bloody clue?" Inara asked. Harry frowned.

"It's a British thing… from the earth that was. The Alliance… well I don't know what they did to me… but it was like I had two lives. One here and one that started in 1980 back on earth." Harry explained. Jayne grunted as he walked back into the room.

"How come you ain't nuts too?" He asked. River and Simon shot him a glare. "What? I'm just say'n! I mean if he got cut up by the Alliance too then shouldn't he be just as loopy? Mal, you saw the way he handled those guys back at the bar! How do we know he ain't just goin' to slit are throats while we sleep!?" Mal looked torn as he considered this.

"Well the doc still has the trigger words… and- hell! He's standing right here! Harry you aren't going to cut our throats right?" Harry nodded. "See! Problem solved, and we'll have Simon check him over just to be sure!" Simon nodded his acceptance.

"It would be helpful if we had some modernized equipment…?" Simon trailed off. Mal frowned.

"Do what you can for now. Harry's on the top of the Alliance hit list, and we're not forgotten yet." Simon nodded looking at Harry.

"If I can figure out why he's so stable than I might be able to help River more efficiently."

Harry looked at the girl in question. He wasn't sure how to feel. He loved Hermione, and Hermione was River, but only inside his head? Harry felt that he knew River from more than that 'matrix' they had him in.

"I'll help however I can." Harry assured Simon who nodded in thanks.

AN: Short I know, but I refuse to force it out. It comes to you as it comes to me. That's right some random person uploads into my brain. Anywho more soon…

Oh by the way… I don't mean to spoil my own story, but to make it a little easier to read... I will. Harry and River are the only one's who went to Hogwarts as they are the only one with abilities, and that's why the Alliance found them. They are the only two characters who have any connections to Harry Potter. Whether Hogwarts was real or not… see ya soon!!!


	7. Bun In Oven

AN: K I know it's been a while so here's a re-cap… never mind… if you can't remember just go back and read it yourself…

Movie review: Just saw Charlie Bartlet, and it was VERY funny. Definitely see it when you have a chance.

Chapter Seven

Bun In Oven

"If I could just have the thing an-and give it to you now I totally would, but I'm guessing it looks kinda like a sea monkey right now… we should let it get a little cuter." JUNO

The mechanical and somewhat metronomic cycle of the physical exam put Harry into a slight daze even in slightly undressed state. Normally he wouldn't be uncomfortable in boxers in front of a doctor, but after morphing back into his natural state a series of scars appeared. Most of which, all actually, Harry had no idea where they came from. Most were small scars across his chest and down his stomach. Simon had commented that some way have been from operations.

"Your blood pressure is fine…" Simon's quiet and monotone voice wasn't helping Harry stay awake. He was sure he'd fall asleep any second just before Simon applied the stethoscope to his chest.

"Yaw-owe!!!" Simon looked up in surprise at Harry whose face heated up under Simon's gaze. "That thing _and _your hands are crazy cold! Ever heard of circulation?" Harry said in defense.

"Sorry," Simon mumbled an apology while moving the stethoscope to check Harry's lungs, "Kaylee likes it." Although it was a whispered comment Harry heard it all too clearly.

"OK! I think we're good here." Harry said jumping down from the exam table. Seeing Simon's frown Harry hastened to add. "Not much you can do here… you said so yourself?"

"I need a neural three-d processor…" At Simon's admittance Harry gathered his clothes back up off the counter with Simon just in his wake. "Still there are so many questions I have… what you remember…? How you were captured? Whether you have the same subliminal programming as River?"

Harry shook his head. "Don't know how I could answer that last one and the rest are still kinda fuzzy… I'll probably spin a tale of woe with dragons and elves." He answered with a self-deprecating laugh. Simon's eyes lost their spark as Harry's words sunk in. "I want to help River too. I just don't think the answers are in my head." Simon nodded in agreement

"At least not that you would know of…" Simon sighed and turned to put his equipment away while Harry went about getting dressed.

"Toned muscle, supple smooth skin… scars add to the appeal."

Both Simon and Harry jumped surprised by River or at least her head which was poking around the corner of the door. Harry blushed pulling his shirt and pants on in a rush. River pouted.

"River…" Simon's warning voice and possibly what he was thinking caused River's head to disappear before the heavy thudding of army boots signified her escape.

"NO MEDS!" Her shout echoed down to the infirmary. Harry quirked an eyebrow as Simon just sighed.

"I do want to help Simon." Harry said facing the doctor. "Could you set up one of those scanners in here?" Harry asked gesturing to the fairly small infirmary. Simon nodded looking around as well.

"Though it would cost far too much through the black market and the Alliance isn't about to sell it to 'criminals'." Simon sighed.

"How much would it run?" Harry asked. Simon looked heavenward for a moment in silent misery.

Simon shrugged. "At least 50,000 in credits… Might as well be a million."

Harry looked slightly uncomfortable. "Maybe you could talk to the captain about arranging a buy for this thing… I'll take care of the money." Simon looked at Harry warily.

"We all saw whatever it is you do… changing your appearance. I don't know how you did it but whatever it is you do I don't think using this…ability… to steal would be a wise idea. The Alliance must have one or more agents looking for you, and you don't want their attention." Simon cautioned. He was rather proud that he hadn't started to prod his patient regarding his abilities while on the subject. How did he do it? A chemical compound agent introduced to alter the appearance… or was it a holographic display… knowing the ship and the kind of strange it attracted he feared it was something else.

Harry shifted uncomfortably for a moment before meeting Simon's eyes. "My parents seem to have left me well off." He mumbled. "I can handle the money." Simon's eyes widened fractionally remembering Mal's story of Harry's parents.

"That's extremely generous. With better equipment I might be able to help River. We were interrupted the one time I was able to examine her." Simon felt at a loss for words as once again he was indebted to a passenger on Serenity. "Thank you." He said sincerely. Harry smiled.

"She'd do it for me."

* * *

"AS IN A BABY!?" Mal shouted alarmed. Zoe wore a skeptical smirk as she watched the captain pace the dining hall floor. From the look on his face you'd think it was his kid.

"Growth rate becoming rapid… weight between 18 and 24 grams. Five and a half centimeters in length. Soul grows bigger and brighter. She wants more attention. First semester symptoms include unusual fatigue, nausea, sensitive mammary glands-"

"River!" Mal and Zoe interrupted though Mal's protest was in defense of his delicate sensibilities.

"A girl?" Zoe asked with bright eyes. River nodded absently. "Wash wanted a girl." Mal wore a sad smile as he looked at the sheer joy on Zoe's face.

"Spotting or irregular bleeding is common…"

Mal sighed as River's list of feminine privacies went on. Smirking Mal watched Jayne walk down the corridor entering the dinning area and heading for the kitchen. Jayne had just picked up and apple when.

"Vaginal discharge… mucous, white substance… form of bacteria. Sheltering is important." River nodded to herself deciding shelter was very important. "Protects from free radicals." Jayne promptly put his apple down and headed back to his bunk mumbling about buggy little girls. Mal smirked.

"That made it _almost_ worth it." Zoe smiled.

"I'm havin' a lil' Wash!"

Mal shook his head unprepared for this strange sunny disposition his first mate acquired, but as he thought of a little red headed Zoe runnin' around with some dino toys and maybe a plastic gun he couldn't help but smile.

"Yes you are!" He said with a grin.

"Are what?" Kaylee asked as she walked to the kitchen grabbing Jayne's neglected apple.

"I'm pregnant!" Zoe said as calmly as she could. Kaylee seemed to process for a second before…

"OHMYGOD!!!" And then high pitch girly screaming was all Mal could hear as they hugged tightly. Kaylee just kept babbling making almost as much sense a River.

"Cute little feet and toes, and oh! A baby! Ain't that the best news in the 'verse!?"

Inara had no idea that the hysteria she heard coming from the dining hall could possibly be a good thing, but almost immediately she joined the estrogen driven squealing party. When the excitement died down some, Mal decided to breach a painfully sore subject.

"I hate to bring it up, but thus ain't the safest place for a kid. Fact is it's on the list for most dangerous in the 'verse." Mal wanted to crawl under a rock thanks to the identical glares he received from Kaylee and Inara.

"I don't want to be saying it any more than I don't want it to be true." Mal sighed. "I'm just thinking of the safety for the newest crew member." Zoe smiled faintly as she placed her hand on her still toned stomach.

"I know." Zoe conceded. "River and Simon aren't wanted anymore, but now that we've got…" She trailed off feeling sick just thinking about it. Mal nodded.

"Now that…" Mal too found it hard to spit out.

"Now that I'm here." Harry answered startling the group. "I didn't mean to endanger anyone… I'll just jump ship next port." Harry nodded resolutely. Simon's eyes showed obvious concern. Harry was key to figuring out what the Alliance did to River, and healing it, he was sure of it.

"NO!" River shouted, her face showing more lucidity and emotion then they had seen since she fought to save her brother's life.

"Harry we don't want you to leave!" Zoe was more controlled in her protest, but equally serious. Mal nodded in agreement.

"You're one of us kid. Get used to it. Dong la ma?"

Harry looked contemplative as he obviously considered the risks he would cause the crew.

"Harry," Mal said beseechingly, "You risked your hide for us all the way through Serenity and got your life taken away for it. Let us watch your back now." A lone tear came to Harry's eyes as he listened to Mal's words. Slowly he nodded once. Simon sighed relieved. River, on the other hand, wasn't as reserved; launching herself at Harry she wrapped herself around him tightly in a hug.

"Don't think River's gonna give you much of a choice anyhow." Mal laughed.

An: A little's better than nothin' right????


	8. Zero G

AN: Ok I borrowed from a couple of authors for this chapter. The opening scene is kinda Ender's Game inspired while the latter one is a tribute to Nonjon's story Brown coat Green eyes. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed!

Movie review: I could never be your woman: Not bad but all in all don't waste your money. That's really all I have to say about that one.

Chapter Eight

Zero G

Even as far back as the earth-that-was early astronauts learned of the perils of space. The vacuum of space, radiation from solar flares, extreme cold, and weightless-ness were just a few of the problems they encountered. Weightless-ness came as a surprise to some, but it was soon realized that over time the lack of weight caused one's bones to weaken. So much so that it became dangerous to be in space for an extended period of time. Artificial gravity eventually took care of this problem, but there was still a strange difference between being on a ship and being planet-side. It was comparable to walking on one planet to walking on another. It just wasn't the same, and for some after a while it could become too much to take.

As River happily floated upside down in the cargo bay she considered this. She considered space-dementia and she considered how the effects of space could be hazardous on one's health mentally and physically. She giggled as her long black hair gently swayed back and forth below her… or above her, she considered that Simon didn't look like he was holding up well.

"River! Please! Kaylee will have the artificial gravity back on in a moment! You must come down!" He tried to make his voice commanding but it was little more than a whimper as he held on to the frame of the hatch he was at which led back towards the main part of the ship. Harry and Mal were peaking around Simon.

"Doc, I wouldn't worry too much. Kaylee will give us a warning before we need to get her down." Mal assured with a comforting grin…well goofy would be more accurate. Harry didn't look like he minded the zero g, but he did seem worried about River, and River?

"Oh god! I forgot about River!" Harry exclaimed panicked. Mal and Simon both looked at him askance. He was here cause of River…

"You crackin' Harry?" Mal asked nervously. Harry shook his head negatively.

"Look!" Harry pointed just beyond River to a little black dog happily twirling in zero g.

"Oh! River!" Mal exclaimed. "Yeah I see now… pretty irresponsible of you if you ask me." Mal said with a smirk. Harry scowled before calling out to the pup.

"River! Are you ok?" He was answered by a giggle and a bark.

"Which one barked do you think? Mal asked. Simon and Harry glared at him.

* * *

"Oh! Ok! All shiny! Grav should be on in a sec!" Kaylee's cheerful voice rang out over the intercom. The three men shared a look of horror. Mal and Harry quickly sprung into action immediately after, leaving the space sick and terrified doctor behind. Pushing off with a hard jump Harry headed straight for the ceiling. Mal, however, flung himself in the direction of the closest com link.

Once Harry was close to the ceiling he bent down hard causing his body to flip allowing his feet to take the landing rather than his face. Not even allowing himself to get situated he pushed off again towards the two Rivers who were happily oblivious to all around them. Luckily River had grabbed the small pup to pet and play with allowing Harry to simply grab her when he reached them.

Mal had underestimated the amount of strength he would need to push off in order to reach the com, so it took him most of this time to get there as he floated somewhat slowly in comparison to Harry. Once he could grab the damn thing he already started to feel the affect of the artificial gravity.

"Kaylee kill the gravity or were gonna have to scarp Harry and River off the cargo floor!" Mal's voice startled the mechanic who was still floating near her handiwork.

* * *

"Uh oh!" She whimpered wondering what the hell was going on. Grabbing the com she asked back, "Should I smash her Cap'n?"

* * *

Mal rolled his eyes. "Just get it off!"

* * *

Kaylee nodded nervously before reaching into the engine…

* * *

Harry sighed as he wrapped his arms around River securely. Now he just needed another point to push off from and they'd be on the ground. Just then the gravity kicked in full power. 'Well, we'll be on the ground.' Harry thought. The speed they were going (about 28 meters a second) and the distance they had to travel (just less then 28 meters) made Harry sure that they would _probably_ live, but as he positioned himself to take the blow for River and the pup…'Maybe I should make peace with my dear and fluffy lord.' Harry thought. They were going to smash into the metal. His spine was going to bend in half before cracking.

"GO-SEEEE!" Harry screamed just before…

"GOT IT!" Kaylee's nervous yet relieved voice floated over the com from the engine room.

Harry decided to open his eyes and peek around. They were less than a foot off the ground. River had her head turned so she could look down at him. She began to giggle at the expression on his face, and after a moment Harry laughed out of relief.

Mal and Simon both looked like they wanted to vomit, but seeing as zero g was back both held it in.

"Kaylee? What happened to givin' us a warning?" Mal asked still trying to get his heart to slow down. There was a moment of silence before…

"I did too warn you!" Kaylee's voice had a slight tremble in it. Obviously she was trying to remember her warning.

"When?" Mal asked.

"I said, "Grav should be back on in a sex." Mal frowned.

"You said what." Silence. "Kaylee we're ok. Just get the gravity back on, will ya?" Mal shut off the com before blowing out a breath. A moment latter he felt the gravity kick in and he was sitting on the floor, happy to feel the weight of the world back on his shoulders. He looked up to see Harry grunt as River's weight and the foot fall onto metal add up to be an uncomfortable experience. River had yet to stop giggling, but she seemed to take sympathy on Harry as she climbed onto her knees so her weight was no longer suffocating Harry. The pup barked once before taking off to god knows where. Simon frowned from his spot at the top of the catwalk. River wouldn't realize it, and Harry was too distressed to notice, but she was straddling him in a slightly more familiar way then a big brother could appreciate.

River must have picked up on Simon's stray thought because she poked her tongue out at him before leaning her face down, inches from Harry's.

"My hero." She whispered before planting her lips on his. Harry's eyes widened in shock as the soft lips touched his own. He felt a numbing pleasure go through his body.

Mal smiled at the site 'till he saw the expression on Simon's face. 'Boy's gonna have a stroke.' Walking quickly over to the couple Mal lifted River off of Harry easily enough, though she gave a pout. Harry, of course, was still comatose much to their shared amusement.

"Sorry lil' albatross but your big brother looks fit to have an embolism." River's pout went away as she took in the surprised frown on Simon's face.

"Simon takes so much looking after." She sighed with a smile. Mal smiled as well.

"Help?" Harry asked through a wheezed out breath. Mal shook his head.

"Oh! Right there Harry." Mal grabbed onto Harry's outstretched hand and hauled the boy to his feet. "You ok?" Mal asked concerned as Harry moved a bit stiffly.

"Swell." Harry replied.

"You're swelling?" River asked. Mal rolled his eyes. "Bruised torso…" River mumbled. Harry grunted in agreement.

"Ow."

* * *

Later when everyone was gathered around the dining table for dinner Mal decided to recount the tale to the whole crew. Of course as it was at the expense of Simon, Kaylee, Harry and River only Zoe, Jayne, Inara and River could enjoy the story.

"So Harry says, "Ow." Jayne burst into laughter with a sniggering River, Zoe and Inara, though Inara did try to appear disapproving.

"Mal that's horrible. Harry you were very brave." Inara complemented the blushing Harry.

"Yes, Harry falling out of the sky was very brave." Zoe jibed well naturedly. Harry shrugged and decided to dig into his food.

"Seemed like a plan at the time." Just about everyone burst into laughter at his withering reply.

Simon looked at Harry with his stern older brother glare. "Still I wish you had let me check you out to make sure you haven't cracked your spine." Harry shrugged. He couldn't exactly explain he could 'fix' himself simply by concentrating.

"Just stiff really, Simon." Harry said placatingly. River looked at him with a knowing look.

"He's a proficient healer Simon. He received top NEWT marks." River said proudly. Mal looked at her sideways. Simon sighed but seeing the understanding in Harry's eyes he felt an unusual surge of uneasiness at River's ramblings.

"Harry…?" Simon began unsure of how to ask. "You understand what River is saying… don't you?" Everyone held their breath for the reply… everyone except Jayne who continued to eat noisily.

"Yes." Harry replied sadly. River nodded. Of course he understood.

"We went to the same school!" River said as though it was obvious, and to her it was. "Same grade, same year, same house… same, same, same…" She said cheerfully. " Harry flinched.

"You mean the academy?" Mal asked seeing the dead look in Harry's eyes. He nodded yes while River nodded no. They shared a confused look, which seemed sorely out of place on River's features to the rest of the crew.

"It's Hogwarts!" River said to Harry as though trying to get him to remember. Harry squirmed as the crew looked at him for confirmation. "Hogwarts was our place!" River explained. "They couldn't get me at Hogwarts."

"You'll think I've lost it." Harry said nervously. Jayne shrugged.

"Too late." Zoe slapped Jayne's arm before looking back at Harry.

"It's not your fault what they did to you Harry. You should try and let us help you." Zoe said compassionately. Inara nodded in agreement.

"Talking about it can help significantly." Harry sighed.

"Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the name of the 'school." He said bitterly. "Best I can figure so far… they had River and I-"

"Me and River." River corrected with a nod.

"Thanks Hermione. So they had…" Harry stopped mid-sentence realizing what he'd said. Turning to River he could see his words had no effect on her. In fact she seemed pleased he had remembered to thank her for her correction. The crew just watched wondering what in gorram hell was goin' on?

"What in gorram hell is goin' on?" Mal asked confused. Harry looked up in frustration.

"Just try, Harry." Simon said caringly. Harry sighed nodding.

"The Alliance had a program or something…" Harry shook his head. "I lived my entire life… the last seven years or so at Hogwarts on the earth that was in the twentieth century." Silence.

"Try harder, Harry." Mal coaxed. Harry growled.

"How? I don't have a bloody clue myself, and I am supposed to explain it to you!?" Harry rubbed his hand through his hair in frustration. Mal looked guilty but still gave a gentle shooing motion with his hand to get him talking.

"They had my brain believing I was in another world. It was all fake of course, but there were elements of truth. River was one of those parts. Except in my- our dream. Her name was Hermione Granger."

"Hermione Jane Granger." River piped in while picking at her food.

"Right." Harry sighed. "But there have been other parts that have been true as well…" Mal gave another shooing motion, but River answered.

"Healer, altering appearance… magic. Physics dictate the impossibility…" She laughed a little. Everyone looked between River and Harry trying to see if what she had said was true… or at least whether or not Harry believed it to be true. Harry sighed.

"I told you you'd think I was nuts." Harry looked down at his plate.

"Huh." Mal grunted.

"Yeah." Zoe agreed.

"What kina magic!?" Kaylee asked excitedly. Harry looked up sharply.

"You believe me?" Harry asked incredulously. Kaylee shrugged like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"The things River does, and knows… Sides we all saw you change as simple as breathing." Kaylee's eyes were bright as she leaned forward to ask again. "What kina magic!?" Harry looked doubtfully around the table, and while most of the crew still looked skeptical (Simon especially) they all looked willing to believe it possible.

"Wanna see?" Harry asked sheepishly.

"YEAH!" Jayne cheered before looking uncomfortable under the stares he got. "I mean… magic ain't real… right Mal?" He asked nervously. Mal nodded to Harry.

"Guess we'll see. What can you do Harry?" Mal asked not unkindly. Harry shrugged.

"In the other world I could do all sorts of stuff, but I had a wand. Since I've come to I've been able to change things into other stuff… I think they call it transfiguration." Harry said. River nodded.

"Why don't you try?" Simon asked with an odd glint. If Harry could do what he said then there was far more hope for River if not… He didn't want to think about what that would mean for River or Harry. Harry looked around the table.

"What should I change?" Mal tossed him a roll from across the table.

"How 'bout you make some dessert?" He asked. Harry nodded after catching the roll.

'Dessert…ok I can do this.' He thought to himself staring intently at the roll. Slowly it flattened out a bit before becoming wider and circular. Finally a hole emerged in the center of the circle. Next he darkened the bread until it was a dark brown. He was so immersed in his work he hadn't noticed everyone's wide open stares of amazement. Finally he took the salt shaker but as he shook the salt onto it the grains turned into sprinkles as they stuck to the now chocolate, sprinkled donut.

"Jing tsai!" Simon exclaimed. Harry carefully placed the donut on an empty plate in the center of table.

"Anyone want to try it?" Mal asked nervously. Surprisingly Simon reached forward and broke off a piece. He swallowed nervously once before popping the cake in his mouth and…

"Mmmm. Jung tsai…" Simon repeated. "That's amazing!" Harry _would_ help heal River.

Everyone took Simon's excitement at face value and assumed it was a really good donut and within a second the crew of seven were munching on piece of donut.

"I can't remember the last time we had something that good on board." Mal said wistfully.

"Not sense Book was still here." Jayne said sadly. The crew nodded in agreement. Jayne turned to Harry. "Think you can turn the rest of that fei-oo in the kitchen into some good grub?" Harry shrugged.

"Guess so?" He looked at Mal.

"By all means, Harry." Mal said with a smile. "Protein flavored protein can get old."

"Any requests?" Harry asked. Kaylee squealed raising her hand.

"Strawberries!"

Soon just about everyone had named three foods they wanted. Harry was wondering if he'd even have the energy to do all that. After another half hour of joking around the dining table most of the crew had headed back to their bunks. Harry stayed to help with the dished and to Mal's amusement River volunteered to help. Mal was surprised though when Simon nodded and simply headed off towards the infirmary. The ship was starting to feel like a home again. It felt like nothing could touch their world. How wrong he was…

To be continued.

An: K I know this chap didn't really go anywhere but I thought it was fun. Thanks for the reviews. More soon. Next chapter we'll have a flashback of River in the program and Harry has a subliminal message.


	9. Deception

Harry stared outside into the cold emptiness of space and waxed philosophical as the events from the past 48 hours caught up wi

AN: OK… First chapter in a while. Thanks for the reviews. They encouraged me to pick this story back up. I decided I didn't want to be one of those authors that start a story and never finish…. So here it goes.

Disclaimer: No ownership claimed… even the plot is a mixture of a million different things.

Chapter Nine

Deception

The cockpit of Serenity was a good place to think Harry discovered as he stared outside into the cold emptiness of space and waxed philosophical as the events from the past 48 hours caught up with him like running into a wall. It was easy to accept everything that was happening in the moment. None of it really sunk in… now that he had time to decompress… He just wasn't sure what to feel. He felt some elation with his freedom and the reunion between him and two of his parents' closest friends. Of course there was River, also. But River also gave him an incredible sense of dread…

"How longs he been like that?" Mal asked staring at Harry. Simon turned from the near catatonic teen to look at the captain.

"Since River…" Simon tailed off not knowing how to describe her episode.

FLASHBACK…

After another half hour of joking around the dining table most of the crew had headed back to their bunks. Harry stayed to help with the dishes and to Mal's amusement River volunteered to help. Mal was surprised though when Simon nodded and simply headed off towards the infirmary. The ship was starting to feel like a home again. It felt like nothing could touch their world. How wrong he was…

"River, can you hand me a towel, please?" Harry asked as he finished scrubbing the last plate. River pouted at him.

"It's my job to dry!" She reached for the plate, but Harry still had his quick reflexes and pulled the plate away playfully at the last second.

River's eye widened in delight as Harry held the plate teasingly just out of her reach over his head.

"Giver. Me. The. Plate. Potter." River tried to seem menacing but failed miserably as she pouted. Harry was drawn into her big brown eyes like a moth to a flame. Suddenly he wasn't on a spaceship with River, but instead he was staring into the eyes of his fiancé Hermione Granger and they were standing next to the Great Lake back at Hogwarts. Slowly he leaned in and captured her pouting lips with his own.

River gasped but refused to break the kiss even for her own surprise. After a mere moment she was returning it with equal passion. The plate fell to the floor shattering unbeknownst to Harry or River.

Mal was just heading back to the cockpit to check the course heading when he heard the plate shatter. With a roll of his eyes he headed back towards the kitchen…

"Am I gonna have any china left with the two of y- Ni er ge shi ma!? What in the hell!?" Mal stared in shock at the two lip locked shipmates who seemed intent on ignoring his attempts at breaking them apart. If anything the kiss deepened as River stepped up on her toes to reach Harry better.

"I'm not seeing this!" Mal shook his head. No- he was. "I- I'm- I'm telling Simon…" Mal turned on his heel not sure what he was actually going to do. River was like a little sister… he was sure Harry wouldn't intentionally take advantage of her, but Harry admitted that he wasn't one hundred percent. He might hurt River on accident… he hadn't witnessed River's bad side yet like the rest of them had… Mal hurried over to the com.

"Simon you're needed in the kitchen… no hurry." Mal unfortunately didn't consider that his nonchalance was more likely to draw the rest of the crew where as if he had been pissed people would of assumed business as usual. At least that was the subconscious thought of Kaylee, and Simon as they B-lined back to the kitchen at varying paces of a steady rush.

Back in the kitchen Harry and River finally broke their kiss, but their eyes stayed locked on one another.

"I don't understand…" Harry began seeing Hogwarts castle in his peripheral vision. "I thought none of this was real, Hermione?"

Hermione smiled. "Now you see like I do." She gently tugged Harry back down to continue where they left off. Harry's mind was a gentle haze as pleasure overwhelmed him. It felt like coming home, but a nagging pressure in the back of his mind prevented him from submitting completely to Hermione's warm reassurances. It felt like he was forgetting something… like he'd left the stove on.

"Hey-" Hermione broke the kiss. "Are you with me, Harry?" He smiled to reassure her.

"Always."

"Aw! How cute!" Kaylee gushed watching the two teens share their not so private moment.

"This is serious, Kaylee!" Mal shouted back. "They're in their own world, and Harry thinks River's Harmony again!"

Simon shook his head. "I don't understand. They seem to be sharing the same delusion. Like they must of when they were with the Alliance." Kaylee's smile faded as she caught on to what was happening from the pain in Simon's voice.

"I thought Harry checked out ok?" Mal asked nervously. Simon shrugged.

"River's presence seems to have caused him to slip back somehow…" Simon trailed off as he noticed they never seemed to look away from the others' eyes when they broke from kissing. A horrible thought occurred to him as he noticed this. "River's controlling what Harry sees…" Simon said in shock.

Mal's face twisted into a grimace. "She can't do that, can she?"

Simon watched the pair for a second as he opened his bag… "She can." He drew a syringe from a small stash of tranquilizers. "I'm going to sedate Harry to bring him out of the trance."

Kaylee frowned. "Shouldn't you sedate River?" Simon shook his head.

"If I do then Harry will snap out of the trance… or he'll be stuck in it." Mal frowned not liking the sound of this one bit.

"How do you know sedating Harry will end the trance?" Mal asked concerned.

"I don't…" Simon said simply. Mal shook his head clearly not liking the guesswork going on there.

Harry and Hermione sprung apart. Hogwarts castle was under attack from a swarm of dementors.

"What's going on? I thought the dementors were back under control of the ministry!?" Harry yelled shocked as he watched the horrifying sight.

"They're trying to take you away again!" Hermione cried hugging Harry. Harry gripped Hermione back tightly.

"I won't leave you, Hermione." Harry mumbled into her hair.

"Promise?" Hermione begged looking up into Harry's eyes with her own watery ones.

"Promise." Harry agreed. The ground shook. Trembling more and more until its source was identified as a family of giants sprung from the forbidden forest. They too charged the castle while throwing boulders large enough to completely demolish the exterior of the ancient castle. A piece of debris fell back from the castle headed directly at Hermione. Harry quickly spun them around taking the blow himself before everything went black….

Simon watched Harry closely as he inserted the syringe into his arm before slowly injecting the tranq. Harry's eyes began to droop as it kicked in. Apparently trying to escape the needle Harry whipped around putting River in the spot he was standing before collapsing onto the kitchen floor.

River's eyes followed Harry's descent, but once she saw he was breathing and ok her eyes took on a wild look as she scanned the kitchen.

"River? Are you ok?" Simon took a step towards her.

"Stay back, deatheater!" River shouted.

The castle was nothing but a pile of stones now and blood ran like a river from Hogwarts into the Great Lake, poisoning it with the innocent lives of all the children. Now Hermione was all that was left. They captured Harry and now they were coming for her. For revenge, Harry had killed their master and now they wanted to kill her. There were three hooded figures all wearing the bone white masks that haunted her.

"Even the orderlies wear masks." River moaned. One of the deatheaters reached out with his wand and stabbed her before she could react….

Simon watched as River too began to collapse from the strength of the drug. He gently wrapped his arms around her before she could fall to the floor.

Mal and Kaylee could only watch shocked from the doorway to the kitchen.

When Harry came to he found himself awkwardly slumped in the co-pilot seat. Mal answered his questions as best as he could while Simon tended to River in the infirmary.

"The Doc thinks it's best to keep you two separate for now… Tend to agree with him on the matter." Mal had said. Harry had blushed but his despair outweighed his embarrassment.

As Harry reviewed these memories he finally came to some form of a conclusion. He felt true love for both River and Hermione. But was it River he was so close to or was it Hermione? Was River's personality a copy of some programming they gave her in the artificial reality, or was Hermione's existence spawned from River's personality? Was his love of Hermione from River's kindness and gentleness? Harry wasn't sure if he could love River if she was a product of the Alliance. He had to find out if his feelings were real. If River was real.

Harry stared out into space. The original rumors of how reavers were formed floated through his subconscious as he imagined whether it was the emptiness of space that would drive someone mad…. It would be the driving force, but what really would do one in are memories. The void allows you to go over every detail in your mind over and over until all you do is stay inside your mind. Harry didn't realize it but he had been trapped inside his mind for the past three hours as he thought of all the pain the Alliance had caused, and all the pain he had caused in self-defense against them. Though three hours was a short time in comparison to the years he had spent while in some lab. The lab was the key. If he was going to sort out his feelings for River and about his current situation he would have to get back to those labs. Find the people responsible… and… he'd see about the rest when the time came.

Simon and Mal both shook from their own concerned daze when Harry finally stood to face them.

"I'm gonna find the sons of bitches that did this to River and me." Harry's eyes were fierce and determined. Simon felt a shiver go though his spine from the intensity in his words. Mal just stared back with a matching expression.

"Not alone." Mal swore.

Inside her room, River too went over her own memories. With her head resting against the cool metal of her wall she let her long black locks fall in front of her face, obscuring it slightly. She had always done this as a child when she felt said, though she didn't realize it. Her long hair didn't hide the tears that fell freely down her face, though.

"Harry…" She whispered sadly. "You promised, Harry."

AN: Well… short but I have a lot planned… what do we think?


	10. Sessions with Dr Price

AN: Long time. No see. Read chapter. Enjoy.

X-MEN 4 Sucked but no surprise there really. I thought 17 again was ok… coulda been better.

Chapter 10

Sessions with Dr. Price.

The sound of a man gagging on his own blood was a disturbing, haunting sound. A sound that filled the small ten by ten room.

River stared through the one-sided glass window plainly as if there was no obstruction from her sight. Her hair was matted together and her hands were stained in blood, one clutching a pen.

"I can see you." She whispered.

THREE MONTHS EARLIER…

Video Except 1

Dr. Leslie Price stared across the solid oak table at their newest subject, River Tam. She seemed happy but slightly nervous. This was their first interview together.

"And you like school.?" Dr. Price inquired casually jotting a few notes in his pad.

"I do. It's… Sometimes things move a little slowly for me." She shyly admitted trying to hide behind a long lock of her hair.

"I imagine they do. What's your favorite subject?"

"I'm finding physics a challenge. " There was a hitch in her voice. Maybe she enjoyed physics but it was clearly no challenge.

"You're in the graduate program already" He stated.

"They call me little mouse." She smiled.

"Do you think they're jealous, because you're so young?"

"Volger is, a little… He plans to become very important. "

"Did he tell you he was jealous.?" Dr. Price inquired.

River blushed. "Oh, no! I just…" She trailed off unsure how to explain…

"You feel it."

"People tell you things all the time without talking. The way they move… the way they aren't talking."

"You're very intuitive."

"Simon says I was born with a third eye. He hates when I can tell which girls he likes." River's eyes lit up as she thought of her protective older brother.

"Your brother, he's a doctor, right?"

"He's a trauma surgeon in Capitol City."

"Quite a family."

"Simon's a genius. I could never do what he does. " River truly seemed to respect her brother's talents. The doctor scribbled something down.

"I think you could do whatever you put your mind to. That's what the Alliance needs. That's what this institute is all about. Your mind, letting it do everything it can. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?"

"Would I still be allowed to dance?"

End Session Excerpt

Harry stared in at the almost comatose form of River's sleeping body. He did his best to think of her as River now. Hermione was her 'slave' name after all. Her body would twitch every now and again. Clearly whatever nightmare she was stuck in was a terrible one.

Simon hurried around the clinic pulling open drawers and shoving them closed again. There really was nothing he could do really. River seemed to be completely healthy. She was just… stressed from Harry's return and their subsequent fights. Not that he blamed Harry. He was just as much a victim as River, and he was sure that Harry would be the key to any recovery River made, long term. Still he was River's older brother and therefore it was his job to worry his ass off.

"Is she any better?" Harry jerked out of his revelry as Mal came up behind him at the entrance to the infirmary. Turning his attention back to Simon he waited for the answer.

"She's stable. The initial… episode seems to be over, but she's almost completely unresponsive to anything external." Simon remained professional in his diagnosis.

"Can't you just… you know.. wake her up?" Mal asked. Simon shook his head slowly.

"If I tried to force her awake there could be psychological damage. Whatever this is, she needs to come out of it on her own."

Harry sighed in dejection but nodded his head in thanks as Mal lay a supportive hand on his shoulder.

"This ain't your fault, kid. She was plenty twisted just being around us."

Harry forced a smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

"Just hang in there, for her." Mal added. Harry nodded. He could do that.

Session 22 Excerpt

River no longer seemed comfortable sitting in front of Dr. Price. In fact she looked like there were a million places she would rather be.

"But you understand why these treatments are important?" The good doctor inquired.

"I don't think. I'm sorry… I think there's been an error. I don't think… I think I may not be the right subject for these… for this program." River stuttered through her confession like a child that dropped a dish.

"It's perfectly normal to feel-"

"I just! If it were possible to be transferred I would make a… I would like to request a transfer."

"You want to be back in Gen Ed?" Dr. Price sneered.

"Please…"

"You told us that was no good for you. That it was too slow. That's why you're here." Each word was drawn out and clearly spelling a different sentence. 'IT IS YOUR OWN FAULT. YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU GET.' That's what his words said to her.

"Please…it…hurts."

"Well I can help you with that. You know how proud doctor Mathias is of how you're progressing. "

"I'm not progressing. It's the pax." River said suddenly her eyes no longer focused on the doctor.

"Tell me what you see."

"You lost the first one. You cut too deep, he died on the table. One of your attendants cried and you comforted her. 'We're doing such good work.'"

"Do you understand that that's true? The work we do here is very important and you are a part of that."

"I want to see my brother."

"Well you can write to him any time you like."

"I need to… I would like, please, to see him."

"Well I'm sure he's very busy."

"Yes I'm sure."

End Session

Session 165

River's motion was sporadic, her eyes wild.

"I have a system. You make an assumption because you have a system. Your system. You're symptomatic. It's chronic. You think it's benign but it has to be cut out. This system is simple. Like a blanket folded thus, the sheet pulled taut, the mattress… The mattress can't be trusted. It has to be gutted. I looked under 20 and fond a pea and you wonder why I'm not sleeping? Are you worried that I cut up my mattress for no reason, or that I had a perfectly good reason that you couldn't see? Can't see anyone. Even the orderlies wear masks. "

"Why did you cut up your mattress? "

"I am trying to protect my spine."

"Are you worried you might be injured? Your movement trainers have given you excellent…"

"No one will give me a mission."

"A mission?"

"I have a reason. I- I'm reas- reasonable. My movement hasn't been dictated yet, but I am not here for nothing. I am a st…sty, and you know I have a spine. There's something wrong with the body politic. SCREAMS They're sticking in me. It's in the mattress and it's crawling inside me. You cut it out! You cut it out! You cut it out!"

END SESSION

Session 416

The room was silent except the soft scribble of the doctor's pen. River was gently rocking in her chair.

"You're very quiet today. How did you session with doctor Mathias go?"

"He gave me a mission."

"Really? Did he… tell you your mission out loud? Or did you just hear it?"

"He plays hide and seek with me."

"Doctor Mathias?"

"My brother… He's a doctor. He thinks he can find me, but I'm deep down and I do not make a sound."

"River, what mission did doctor Mathias give you?"

"I can't tell you."

"You can tell me anything you know that."

"Can't…tell… I'll have to write it down." River's eyes focused on his pen…

AN: Almost none of this was mine. If you don't recognize then but Serenity's special edition release… like right now bitches… Anyway it's almost time for the yearly screening of Serenity for charity. Who's goin'? Which states? Anyone doing this in another country?Please review!


	11. Lab Work

AN: Yeah… so I have actually been in a coma for the last couple years. I just woke up and thought, "Hey I should write some fanfiction. So here it is. No one reviewed my other active story and figure it's for one or two reasons but if you guys want me to make this story a priority over the other than please review so I know you're out there.

Chapter Eleven

Lab Work

People forget that even top-secret government facilities require the same amenities as any other facility. Where people worked things got messy and you wouldn't expect a guy with a 125 IQ and a God complex to shine a toilet, would you? No, of course not. Still the janitorial work of the Alliances most guarded facilities couldn't be left to the local beer bellied high school dropouts either. While the psychological tests required in recruitment checked for intelligence, its main focus was for apathetic, unmotivated souls whose only purpose in life was to stay busy enough that they didn't think about how pointless it all is…in a crude summation.

This left the largest and most exploitable hole in security. No one looks to closely at a janitor. If you make eye contact, what then? You would have to find a way to relate to the slob and even if you were able to relay a small piece of graciousness in brief meaningless banter you would have also opened a door to this man that can never be shut. He will treat you as an equal. So as Harry casually pushed his mop and bucket down the hall of the very facility he escaped only weeks earlier he kept his head high and attempted to make eye contact with everyone and therefore was ignored.

"I think we should smile."

Harry looked back at Mal with a confused frown.

"Don't think so, Mal."

"Sure we should. Everyone in the Alliance is happy."

"Smile and die." Zoe warned. "It's suspicious enough with the new faces."

"No one will look at your face." Harry pointed out.

"See! So we should smile."

A night guard walked past them and caught Mal's grin just for a second.

"See no harm no-"

"Hey!" The guard had double back. "Let's see those Ids. Don't remember you lot round here."

"No problem." Harry replied. The man made the mistake of making eye contact with him. "Everything in order?" Harry asked. The man nodded distractedly.

"Yeah, fine, I got something to check on. Keep on keep'n on ya know?" With that the guard bid a hasty retreat.

Harry turned and began to walk in the same direction towards his old 'home.' He noticed neither the stunned faces of Zoe and Mal nor the blood that began to dribble from his nose.

SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE…

Harry watched anxiously as River thrashed in the infirmary bed. Cold metal restraints held her down now. While emotionally he had been able to bounce back from their mind meld River was still stuck in whatever world she had recreated for them.

"You're still here." Simon's voice was tinged with bitterness and exhaustion. Harry flinched as though struck as he looked into the doctor's eyes. More tired. More haunted. "I'm sorry," Simon went on, "I- I just don't know what to do for her! Even with the neural imager… I can narrow down where the problem is but without their original notes! I can't fix her!"

"You will Simon. I promise on my life that I won't stop until you do." Harry left the infirmary as quickly as he came. It wouldn't due to break down emotionally in front of Simon. He was half-way to the second shuttle when Mal and Zoe caught up with him.

"Harry where ya think you're going?" Mal asked.

"To get answers."

"We're not gonna let you go alone." Zoe stated.

Harry paused. Who was he to argue with them? This was their ship and he was just a guest, but they didn't understand River's pain the way he did. He was uniquely qualified to help in other ways as well.

"We're not saying no. Just saying take us with you." Mal's voice was pleading. Harry couldn't take hearing his child hood hero beg on his own ship.

"It's your boat captain, but I think I know just the place to start."

Standing outside a small house at Privet Drive and Diagon Ln, Mal doubted his own sanity for following Harry to the house of a man that he only met inside his own head.

"How do you know this is guys even real let alone here?" Mal whispered. Harry shrugged as he broke the man's lock and hustled Mal inside before anyone noticed. "After sorting all the fake memories from the real ones I started to notice duplicate information overlapping in both sections."

"Real fake memories?" Mal asked. "How's that better?"

"It's how I remembered River. Look if I'm wrong we'll leave after only giving a small start to an old geezer and if I'm right we're one step closer to finding those labs again. Anyway he'll be home soon so it's too late now."

Mal sighed watching Harry rummage through the man's kitchen. "How do you know when he'll be home?"

"Cause he's making a roast and there's only 10 minutes left on the timer. No one wants a _dry_ pot roast."

On cue the front door was pushed cautiously open. "Hello?" The man stepped through his door flicking the light on.

"Professor Dumbledore." Harry greeted. Mal slammed the door shut blocking the old man's escape. Warily the man turned from Mal to Harry.

"It's Doctor Donald Moore, " He paused, "you always had an active imagination, Harry. That's one of the things that drew us to you."

Mal's mouth dropped open in surprise. "You were right."

Harry's mouth twisted in anger. "I trusted you, Moore. I was an innocent 11 year old doped up on God knows what and you took advantage of that!"

Moore hung his head. "We had to create the parameters of the world for you to explore and grow in. It was not meant to harm or leave lasting damage but it was supposed to last _six months_! I'm sorry Harry! The research had endless possibilities! If we could find a way to activate that amount of brain cells in everyone… who knows what we could do. Cure diseases, hunger, war…the possibilities are as endless as the human imagination. We could make people..-"

"_Better_?" Mal supplied. "Is that what you did on Ariel? They did seem a lot better carving into their own flesh and eating the few cursed souls that didn't lay down an' die."

"We don't need your apologies or your rationalization of torturing and murdering hundreds of children that appeared different or interesting to you. I just need information." Harry said.

The man sat heavily on his worn couch. "I have nothing left. I will tell you what you want to know, my boy."

Harry's eyes twitched. "You won't have to." Blue eyes met green and the man froze, paralyzed as Harry ransacked his mind. After getting everything he needed Harry broke his gaze. The old man however seemed to be stuck in his hunched position on the couch with his eyes staring unblinking in horror.

Mal looked from the man to Harry who was panting as a small trail of blood dribbled from his nose.

"Whatchya do to him?" Mal asked staring awkwardly at the empty vessel.

"The same thing he did to us. I took him inside his subconscious fears and left him there." Harry noticed Mal was still staring at him when he tasted copper. Wiping at his nose he found the bloody mess. "I- uh- it takes a lot out of me. But I know where to go now."

Mal swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

"We need a mop."

CURRENT TIME

"No problem." Harry replied. The man made the mistake of making eye contact with him. "Everything in order?" Harry asked. The man nodded distractedly.

"Yeah, fine, I got something to check on. Keep on keep'n on ya know?" With that the guard bid a hasty retreat.

Harry turned and began to walk in the same direction towards his old 'home.' He noticed neither the stunned faces of Zoe and Mal nor the blood that began to dribble from his nose.

"You guys coming?"

With a slightly faster pace they three janitors made it into the files room for the lab work done in the last ten years.

"You have to give it to the Alliance…they are efficient. All these years and they still keep hard copies." Harry admired looking through the doctor's notes and lab works in front of him. Several minutes later he had the two files he needed when a familiar name caught his attention. Stashing them inside his coat he looked back to Zoe and Mal.

"We can go now."


End file.
